covenrochester

Set for today's date. I have a larger one at home, made of wood. If I use it for horary, I have to separately mark out the house cusps, usually with dice or coins.

A missing persons case will occasionally come to my notice. Within an hour of being alerted to this one, I had cast the above chart and knew the story.

The missing person here is symbolized by Lord 7 inasmuch as the person was unknown to me. So, it is the Moon. The Moon is also the natural ruler of missing persons, but we don't need to rely on a natural rulership here.

One can see that the Moon recently crossed from an Air sign (say, 29 Aquarius) into a Water sign (say 1 Pisces), and as it did so, it immediately hit the Sun, Lord 8, by antiscion, and then immediately hit Saturn, turned Lord 8, bodily. When I cast the chart, the Moon was on Fomalhaut, in the Mouth of the Fish, and also conjunct the South Node by antiscion. I picked one person to whom to announce my findings: fell into water, death by drowning. And so, unfortunately, it was.

I graduated a horary astrologer this past Sunday after he handed in his final exam: a timed prediction before the event occurred, and verified. He cleverly filmed the event occurring, and then panned downward toward a clock giving the time. It reminded me of the time that I predicted a job offer for someone coming by a telephone call, 48 days ahead of time. On the appointed day, I sat in a chair in that person's office and heard the call come in. You might think it incredible, but trained astrologers can do that without much difficulty.

In addition to a diploma, I also issue each graduate the above bracelet, with a bead for each planet -- Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. Then there are sparkly black beads representing the Fixed Stars, and then some perforated black lava beads representing The Distant Unknown.

Thank goodness the craftsperson making them still includes Pluto. Although scientists have dissed the planet-most-distant, horary astrologers are still on speaking terms with Himself. He manifests his influence humorously at times, representing the basement, an underground spring, a man driving around a woman, agoraphobia, elopement, or quarantine, and only sometimes death, imprisonment, malice, or crime.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

The Seeker had adopted a stray cat many years ago. One night, as she was stabling her horses, she saw the cat going inside her old barn. She never saw that cat again after that, so she cast this chart asking: "Where is the cat?"

She apparently had trouble judging it, and a student had a question about it. I think it is a fairly straightforward judgment. In many instances of lost pets, we look first to see if the pet is still alive.

Mr. Cat is Lord 6, Mars.

The role of Death can be played by either radical Lord 8, or Mr. Cat's turned Lord 8.

Radical Lord 8 is Mercury, but he hasn't recently done and isn't presently doing anything to Mr. Cat. Mr. Cat lives!

Mr. Cat's turned Lord 8 is radical House 1, ruled by Scorpio, thus giving Mars the role of Death. But Mars is already playing the role of Mr. Cat, so we can't take Mars. What we do in this instance is take the ruler of the next sign round. That's Sagittarius and Jupiter. Jupiter is therefore standing in as turned Lord 8.

Mars is just past the conjunction of Jupiter. Mr. Cat has just met Death. Mr. Cat is dead.

Where is Mr. Cat, deceased though he may be? On an adjoining property, likely to the northwest, because Mars/Mr. Cat is located on a parcel (the 5th house) adjacent to his own house (the 6th house).

And so it was. Mr. Cat was found, deceased, in a tree on the neighboring property.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

I was reminded of this chart when I mentioned yesterday the traditional witch's birthmarks. It is part of our lore that Witches are reborn to the Craft and the Mysteries lifetime after lifetime, and it is hoped that one is reborn amongst one's covenmates or at least in a traditional lineage. When a new person seeks admittance to a Coven, there are ways of investigating these matters. Sometimes, the whole issue is just readily apparent. For many, the information or signs will come in dreams or visions. Others may have the power to check and conclusively determine the matter by divination. Sometimes the Horned Father or the Great Mother will simply move the initiator's heart in a certain way, metaphorically.

If by divination, the gods will be particularly clear with you, whether yea or nay. The Craft is, after all, made up of the Hidden Children of the Gods, and the Gods hold the honor of the Craft dear to them. Above is a chart asking of a particular person, whether (a) returning to the Craft, and (b) returning to our lineage. Either one may be asked or, as here, both may be asked at a single time and judged from a single chart.

This chart is so clear that it requires no comment.

The issue can be investigated from the other end, too. If you are a Seeker and wondering about the lineage or knowledge or spiritual power of the group you are investigating, it can be answered by a competent diviner.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

Ere we depart from this lovely realm (in years and years and years to come), and we bid you hail and farewell, we hope to leave our magical healers and astrologers with a better understanding of astrological herbalism in the treatment of the unwell. This is not a terribly complex thing, but you must have wits in your head or you will get lead astray.

An important thing to understand is that every plant that is used for medicine can be assigned to one of the seven ancient planets -- Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (please disregard that the first two are technically luminaries and not planets).

For instance, the above plant is Yarrow. It is a plant of Venus. Venus is a cold and moist planet. But Yarrow's action in the physical body is to heat it up and dry it out. In other words, to expel excess water from the system, yes? Fire heats Water, Water turns to steam and billows away. Earth covers Water, the Water is absorbed and sunk into the Earth. One movement upward, one movement downward, so to speak.

It may seem strange that a COLD and MOIST plant should have HOT and DRY effects, but so it is. Mother Nature works in various combinations throughout the Kingdoms, even in seeming opposites. Many a demon have worn the opulent vestments of Roman Catholic priests and bishops in the last 1000 years. Many soiled and poorly clothed saints have seemingly defied physics with miraculous feats in the marketplaces of India in those same years. Appearances can be deceiving, and the human eye is the greatest of slanderers, as you know.

So, Yarrow is a plant that works by OPPOSITES and not by SIMILARS. The relationship between its NATURE and EFFECT is DIVERGENT.

Those terms, however, should not be confused with SYMPATHY and ANTIPATHY. Those have more precise applications when looking at the actual horary or decumbiture chart. Sympathy and Antipathy involves an evaluation of the essential strength of the Lord of the Querent (or the Moon) and the essential strength of the afflicting planet. Keep in mind, too, that the method of diagnosis differs between horary and decumbiture charts. Dr. Lilly and Dr. Saunders failed to make that clear to their readers, and their works have therefore led many self-studying students astray over the last 400 years.

Mother Nature, of course, gives us plants that work as SIMILARS in this arena. For instance, Ginger is a plant of Mars.[1] Mars is a hot and dry planet, and its action on the body is to heat it up and dry it out. Therefore Ginger is a plant that works by SIMILARS. The relationship between its NATURE and EFFECT is CONVERGENT.

The heat and dryness of Yarrow, however, is gentler and slower than the heat and dryness of Ginger. Therefore, if you are given a Yarrow remedy (Yarrow Tea, the Feverbreak Potion, etc.), you are likely to be told to take it while in a hot bath, or to take it and then go sit by the hearth-fire in a blanket, or go immediately to bed, well-covered. Yarrow is effective, but she wants a bit of a boost.

Yarrow and Ginger are both antiviral medicines, too. But in different ways. Yarrow will disintegrate the membrane wall of a virus. She is like a solitary ninja sneaking into the fortress and killing everyone she meets, one by one. Or, in Greek mythology, perhaps like Penthesilea arriving to help the Trojans after the death of Achilles (Yarrow is Achillea millefolium, named after Achilles).

Ginger, on the other hand, stimulates the immune system to make certain cells to combat the viral infection. It's like a wizard summoning an army to storm the fortress. Or, in Greek mythology, perhaps like Cadmus sowing the teeth of a dragon to call forth warriors.

Yarrow is a defense TO THE BODY. She comes in from outside and opens a can of whoop-ass.

Ginger stimulates the defenses OF THE BODY. He wakes up the immune system and pep talks its soldiers onto the field of battle.

These are simplifications, of course, but useful ones.

[1] Dr. Blagrave, in his supplement to the work of Nicky Culpeper, gave Ginger to the Sun. That is incorrect. Ginger bears every resemblance to a plant of Mars, and no resemblance to plants of the Sun. Both Sun and Mars, however, are HOT and DRY, so Dr. Blagrave may be forgiven his confusion.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

Medical questions are not uncommon in astrological practice. They include ordinary pregnancy and death questions, medicine allergy questions, diagnostic questions, prognostic questions, and surgical questions. Occasionally one gets questions about which course of treatment to pursue, such as a cancer patient asking: Should I prioritize surgery or chemotherapy for treatment? Or any other type of patient, really: Should I have the surgery, or should I try alternative treatments like herbs or dietary changes or hydrotherapy or homeopathy (etc.)?

The chart depicted above is a recent question for which I wrote a judgment. Whether a 5-year-old child should have a tonsilectomy. I identified most of the significators involved. Mrs. Jupiter is the child's mother. Master Saturn is the child. Dr. Mercury is treating the child. The tonsils are Mars in Gemini (if you know your astrological medical diagnostics, you can see that the tonsils are experiencing inflammation, which our forbears described as a moist hot-bloodedness). The procedure is the Sun. The Moon is acting as a timing feature. Once I was done analyzing what was going on, and saw that the tonsilectomy would not harm the child, I began noticing signs of potential delay. The mother would like the procedure done, but something gets in the way to delay it. I actually see three indications of that: The Moon about to oppose Uranus by antiscion. Jupiter prohibiting the trine of the Sun and Mars. And Mercury's next aspect being an opposition to Mars by antiscion.

If there was to be a delay, I thought to myself . . . if this were my child, what would I do? I would investigate a potential alternative treatment to use until the procedure was done. Without going into too much detail into how we find the Lord of the treatment, suffice it to say that all of the other planets were busy already, which left only Venus (the technical explanation is that the Lord of the treatment by turned houses in this chart is Lord 4. But the Sun is busy. We can go to Virgo and Mercury. But Mercury is busy. We can go to Libra, which is Venus . . . so she is the first planet we can take).

Venus in Aquarius would represent the alternative treatment then. I immediately thought that, if it were my kid, he would be getting Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) medicines, either as a tincture or a throat spray. Yarrow fits Venus in Aquarius perfectly. Yarrow is ruled by Venus, and its feathery appearance is very airy. Moreover, it is an anti-infective, a fever killer, and blood cooler. Another thing that occurred to me: Peaches, canned, cooked, or frozen and defrosted -- a Venus food that would cool the blood. The third thing I thought of was a standard infusion of Violet Leaf, with a bit of Raw Honey added. That is also a Venus plant with cooling effect, and the leaf is the Air part of the plant.

Remember the Witches' proverb about Violets (Viola spp), though!

THUS WE SAY OF THE VIOLET:
ALL HER GOODNESS IS ABOVE THE EARTH,
AND ALL HER EVIL BELOW IT.

In any event, I would never be so bold as to offer alternative treatments to a regular Seeker. I would mention these things only if it were a member of my family, a witch in my coven, or a witch in other covens of our lineage. Otherwise, one is liable to run into idiocy. A person will take percocet (containing an opiod) on his doctor's advice and prescription, and won't even inquire into potential side effects or read the side-effects literature that comes with a prescription. But if one dares to suggest a cup of Violet Leaf infusion once a day, you would think the world was about to end. "Violet Leaf?! OMG! Is it *safe*?!?!?!?!"

As a matter of fact, safer than the alkaloids in the two cups of coffee you drank this morning.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

The Querent (Q) has a friend (Friend) about whom she has been concerned for about a year. Q recently thought it might be prudent to ask an astrologer, "Is my friend being negatively affected by an occult being?"




The short answer is "no, she is not," but you can read the details of the astrological analysis here:

( Magister's Analysis )

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

At the end of an astrology lesson, students are encouraged to set forth their own charts that they have taken from querents since the last lesson. Occasionally, a student will bring up a chart from the past that he has encountered in his reading. This is such a chart.

It is from the BOOK OF ASTRONOMY by medieval astrologer Guido Bonatti. He was the astrologer to Count Guido Novello, who was waging a war against the city of Lucca in Italy. In this chart, Count Novello asked about his success in besieging a certain castle of the Luccans. Specifically: Will we occupy the castle of the Luccans?

Bonatti uses this chart to illustrate his listed rules of judgment on the besiegement of castles. His rules of judgment seem confused to me, and I myself could state them more clearly.

* Give the 1st House to the army asking the question. In this case, that of Count Novello. Sagittarius is on the cusp of the 1st House, and so Count Novello's army is Jupiter.

* Give the 7th House to the enemy, in this case, the Luccans. Gemini is on the cusp of the 7th House, and so they are Mercury.

* Give the 4th House to the castle being besieged. In this case, Pisces is on the cusp of the 4th House. So the castle is also Jupiter.

We run into a problem here. We cannot have Jupiter represent both Novello's army and the castle. So, we will allow the castle to keep Jupiter, and Novello's army will be substituted by its cosignificator, the Moon.

Therefore:

Novello's army: The Moon
The Luccans: Mercury
The Castle of the Luccans: Jupiter

Bonatti gives a somewhat convoluted judgment to Novello but tells him that "the castle would more likely stand than be taken." But his reasoning is suspect, and this is what caused by student some concern.

The student pointed out that the Moon is exalted, Jupiter is in fall, and they are just about to aspect. This would ordinarily be a clear picture of the castle being taken by Novello's army. The Moon is not particularly strong, accidentally (in the 6th house), but neither is the army of the Luccans, with Mercury just about to enter the 12th house---showing the Luccans being imprisoned in their own castle.

Jupiter is strong, accidentally, in the 2d house, but its dispositor Saturn, is also in fall and is retrograde. This is not a strong castle. It could easily fall.

The chart puzzled me, too, for a moment, and then I saw the answer. The Moon's next aspect is to Jupiter. And after that, Mercury comes along and aspects Jupiter. This is known as a Collection of Light. The Moon gave its power to Jupiter, and then Mercury came along and gave its power to Jupiter. This operates like a conjunction between the Moon and Mercury. And therein lies the answer.

Modern astrologers usually do not learn the judgment rules of besiegement (unless their country goes to war, at which point they quickly learn the rules), but all of us learn the rules for judging the outcome of civil trials in courts, which are, in fact, derived from the judgment rules of besiegement. In civil trial charts, the querent gets House 1, his enemy gets House 7, and the verdict gets House 4. Look familiar?

One civil trial rule is that when the planets of the plaintiff and the opponent come to conjunction, they will settle the matter before the trial.

That is exactly what happened in Bonatti's besiegement chart. The parties made all of their preparations and then . . . did nothing. Bonatti even tells us this in so many words! Novello's army "readied for the capture of the castle," but "in no way did they carry out [their plans; instead] the army left the field." Some of the members of the army were disappointed, feeling that they could have taken the castle if they had assaulted it.

Well, woulda, coulda, shoulda, I say.

But, that's the real rationale of this chart for a nothing besiegement: the parties "settled" before engagement.

A bit of sightseeing here: You can see that the two armies had already met once on the land, but did not engage with one another. This happened about a month before the above question, but you can see it in the present chart, yes? The two armies (Moon and Mercury) faced each other (past opposition) about 4-5 weeks prior. The Moon was exalted, so Novello's army terrified the Luccans, who chose not to engage.

If you want to cast a modern version of Bonatti's chart on your software, you will get fairly close with this data:

11 October 1261
9:40 a.m.
Lucca, Italy
LMT: -00:41:56

This whole entry brings up another important point. It is almost impossible to learn traditional astrology from books, even if you memorize and master everything that the ancient and medieval and renaissance astrologers wrote. Their judgments are often convoluted, and you can feel them struggling to justify what they know as the outcome by what they see in their charts. It is important to keep in mind that time-keeping was an iffy matter for the public even into the 18th century. Secondly, the ephemerides that astrologers used were often wrong. This is one of the things that led astronomer Johannes Kepler to rewrite the ephemerides for Mars once he understood the laws of planetary motion. That was in 1609 and 1610. Before he did that, the ephemerides' placement for Mars was often so out-of-step with reality that it was affecting the charts of astrologers.

I have heard of burgeoning astrologers who attempt to learn horary astrology by reading William Lilly's Christian Astrology and his vastly convoluted judgments therein. I commend your resolve, but condemn your foolishness: You are beyond nuts. Find a teacher. :D

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

Let's face it . . . you don't have to be Nostradamus to guess that, by the time a Seeker asks a Witch to get involved in her love life, you will be dealing with some kind of emotional dumpster fire. That's the default in my experience, anyway. There are exceptions, of course. But if everything is going smashingly well in a relationship, no one thinks of calling the Witch.

This female Seeker had her boyfriend ask her to marry him. But she wasn't sure of her answer. They lived in different cities and met only infrequently because of COVID restrictions. The man was also much older than the Seeker.

Question: Should she marry him?

Answer: No. He wants a young trophy wife, and doesn't care about her emotions at all. If she marries him and moves to his city, she will suffer greatly and be unhappy.

( If You Want To Read the Full Technical Judgment )

In such a matter, the discerning Witch can help a Seeker avoid a truly miserable fate by untying the various strands of the parties' feelings and motivations.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester