journalthe ofTradition predictive western astrology Number 2 Spring 2009 www.thetraditionjournal.com k the Tradition journal of predictive western astrology Number 2 Spring 2009 Cost: 5€ EDITORIAL CONTENTS Editorial 03 Quality & Quantity Work in progress 05 elcome to the second issue of The Tradition. As Expert opinion 06 Wthis is the season of the Oscars, we would like to Modern Myths thank all of those who have contributed to making this Non Cogunt By Sue Ward 13 such a successful project! The response to the first issue The Theoretical Rationale was huge and we were quite overwhelmed by it, and the Underlying the Seven Hermetic Lots quality of the articles in this issue and the last stand as a By Chris Brennan 16 testament to the work astrologers are prepared to put into Astrological Software and the a worthwhile project. Practice of Traditional Astrology By Luís Ribeiro 28 If we mention quality, we should mention quantity: On The Great Conjunction you will have noticed the size of Issue 2 – well over or The Development of an Idea one hundred pages of first quality content from a wide By Peter Stockinger 37 range of authors. Some of these authors may not be as ‘Zodiacal releasing from Spirit’: well known as others and we feel privileged to be able a rediscovered Hellenistic method of prediction to present their work to you. It is one of the purposes of By Martien Hermes 41 this journal to make available a platform for anyone with Signatures - As Above so Below: good quality work to present, not only those with whom Jupiter we are all more familiar. By Oscar Hofman 51 One King, Five Birthdays The Tradition is actively involved with the Academy of By Monique Roussy 58 Astrology in an exciting new research event: the Animodar Addenda to the previous article: Project. You will find details in the current issue and we I. For All Time to Come 61 II. A Short Account concerning the Computation of Time 62 ask all of you to contribute to it by submitting data from III. Lilly on Time Notation 65 your chart collections. The more data we have, the better Can we live without them? the result will be, and it is already showing itself to be a Traditional chart interpretation and the modern planets very promising technique. Alongside this project, we are By Helena Avelar 66 pleased to be collaborating with Astrid von Charnier in Credit-Crunch, Boom-Bust... her research with the Trutine of Hermes, she has provided ...Jupiter-Saturn details in this issue. So, two studies for the price of one, By Sue Ward 73 except that you don’t pay for anything. You give us the Judging Temperament (Part II) data – we do the work – you get the results for your own a study of the method By Luís Ribeiro, AMA study or practise. 93 For Posterity King Sebastian's Nativity All articles reflect the views of the authors. The publishers assume no By Helena Avelar & Luís Ribeiro 103 responsibility for articles or material contained therein, or for goods and services advertised. For information about contributions and By the Book article guidelines please visit our site: www.thetraditionjournal.com Ali ben Ragel, "on Terms" No part of this publication may reproduced or transmitted in any By Helena Avelar 110 form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher. On the Heavens Comet Lulin: nasty little green thing Copyright © 2008 The Tradition, all rights reserved By Luís Ribeiro 112 the Tradition EDITORIAL Under the auspices of our new “Expert Opinion” Editors column, we invited a number of well-known practising astrologers to given their opinions regarding popular house systems. Each very Helena Avelar generously gave of their time and experience and Luís Ribeiro we all have the benefit of that generosity. Sue Ward Finally, we are pleased to announce that the whole Design and Layout cover price of The Tradition will be donated to the A.P.A.A. charity in Portugal. Full details can be found by following this link to our web site: http:// Luís Ribeiro www.academyofastrology.org/traditionjournal/charity. html. This small charity is doing very valuable Contributors work and deserves all the support we can give it, and we hope very much that you will feel the same way. So, as you the reader benefits from the hard Chris Brennan work of all our contributors and the editorial team, Martien Hermes we hope that you will continue to support the Oscar Hofman A.P.A.A. in their hard work, too – we can’t explain Monique Roussy the economic recession to animals. Peter Stockinger We hope that you will enjoy reading Issue 2. k k We must apologise to those contributors whose work we have been unable to publish in this issue, unfortunately it has grown beyond our expectations. Although we have almost unllimited k space, the download size must be manageable for all subscribers, thus we have had to draw a line. 4 the Tradition We will also be taking the opportunity to study the Work in Progress Trutine of Hermes. The Trutine of Hermes, or Trutina Hermetis, is also known as the Pre-Natal Epoch. It is a very ancient The Tradition and The Academy of Astrology are concept which proposes a chart for the moment currently promoting two research projects on of conception based on the relationship between Astrology. The first, the Animodar Project intends a normal period of gestation (about nine months to verify the validity of the Animodar rectification before birth or 273 days) and the moment of birth. method. The second, is the House System Poll It depends on the Moon and the lunar rhythm. which surveys the use of house systems in current This is how Ptolemy defines the Trutina Hermetis astrological practise, Traditional or otherwise. in the Tetrabiblos: “Make the sign occupied by the Moon at the time of birth the ascending sign at the conception; and consider that in which she may be posited at the conception, or the opposite one, as the sign ascending at birth.” The Animodar Project The concept, attributed to Hermes Trismegistos, The aim of this project is to apply the chart has been applied to elect a chart for the best time to rectification method of Animodar to as conceive. Together with the Animodar technique, many charts as possible, using a computer the Trutine of Hermes has also been widely used in program especially created for this purpose. the tradition as a tool to rectify the birth chart. The Animodar is a rectification method of an In order to test this technique, we ask contributors uncertain or unknown birth time and it uses the to provide the length of pregnancy (as exactly as syzygy (the new or full moon) prior to birth. The possible) along with the birth data provided for method claims that the numerical degree of the the Animodar study. As with the Animodar study, Ascendant or MC of the birth chart will be the same the results will be published in The Tradition. (or very close to) the numerical value of the degree in which the planet ruling the syzygy is posited. However, if the length of pregnancy is not known, please do not let this prevent you from submitting Apart from its potential use in rectification, we are the birth data. also interested to see if the induced birth, or other intervention, affects the results of this technique. The Team: We need to know, for example, if the birth occurred Helena Avelar and Sue Ward (Coordinators) at its natural time, or if, by some intervention, the João Ventura (Programming) date and/or time was brought forward or delayed. Luís Ribeiro (Coordination and Design) Astrid Von Chamier (Trutine of Hermes Research) In order to test these methods we will need a very large number of nativities with known birth times. k The results will be published in our Autumn issue. 5 the Tradition Expert Opinion In the Tradition only a few house systems have been reported to be practised. The main systems being: Whole-Sign, Porphyry, Alchabitius and The House System Poll Regiomontanus. We took the opportunity to ask a group of well-known practitioners of the Tradition for their opinion on the use of house systems. The aims of this poll are to find out which house system is preferred by students and practitioners The following questions were presented: of astrology, and what the decisive factors were in making that choice. Generally, in Hellenistic astrology Whole Sign houses are favoured; in Medieval, Alchabitius Semi-arc; in To participate in the survey, just fill in the online Traditional, Regiomontanus houses are used. It seems questionnaire which can be found at: that this is largely for historical reasons - one follows the house system associated with the astrological period http://www.academyofastrology.org/research/ one studies. housepoll/. This survey is aimed at both Traditional and In your opinion: Modern practitioners. • Do you think that the above is true? k • Do you think that there is a definitive house system, if so, which? • Do you think that it matters which house system is employed? • Do you think that certain house systems favour certain astrological applications? • Do you think that there were cultural or spiritual bases for ancient house systems, or that it was merely a matter of mathematical perspectives? • What is your preferred system of house division? Why? 6 the Tradition EXPERT OPINION houses since that is what virtually every astrologer Chris Brennan in that tradition used, and Schmidt and Hand A practising astrologer and became major proponents of the system.