Anima Astrologiae
OR,
A GUIDE for ASTROLOGERS.
Year: 1676
By William Lilly
Considerations of Guido Bonatus (55-61)
- The 55th is, To consider whether the significator be Peregrine, for then the person whom he signifies, either in a Nativity or Question, &c., will be subtle, crafty, malicious, one that shall know how to act both good and evil, but more inclinable to the latter.
- The 56th is, To consider if the significator of anything shall commit his disposition or virtue to any other Planet? Whether it be to one that is Oriental or Occidental? For if he be Oriental and one of the Inferiors and direct, or if he be Occidental and one of the Superiors, and that there be not above 20 minutes between him and the Sun, he will be weak says ‘Sarcinator,’ and not perform what he shows, but hinders many things; under that impediment like a sick man whose disease has prevailed so far, that he is forced to lie by it, and cannot help himself; or a falling house which none can preserve from ruin; and so much further as such Planet shall be from the Sun, so much less shall he be afflicted. And if it be Oriental, and one of the Superiors, or Occidental, and one of the Inferiors, and not Retrograde, he shall be strong and fit to perfect what he promises; as one that hath been ill, but is more perfectly recovered, or a building which fell and is repaired, and so of all other planets so disposed.
- The 57th is, To consider whether the significator be in the Eighth from the Ascendant? For if he be there, and a Fortune, though he do not harm, he will do no good; and if he be an Infortune he will do greater mischief than in any other place of the Figure; and if the Question be of going to War, advise not the Querent to go there, although it be a Fortune; for always some evil is to be suspected, that is death, or at least captivity, for it is a place of darkness and death; but if it be an Infortune, judge death, unless he separate then from the Lord of the Eighth; for then it may be only a wound, or bruise, or a fall, wherein he was in danger of death, although he may escape; and if it be a journey, especially a long one, he will be taken prisoner, or in great dread of it; understand still if he separate from the Lord of the Eighth; and also remember that an Infortune so disposed always does more mischief than a Fortune.
- The 58th is to Consider, Whether the Significator be fixed in that Sign where he is found? Now ‘Zaell’ saith: “That a Planet is not said to be fixed in a Sign till he hath passed 5 degrees thereof.” But I am of the opinion that when he hath passed one whole degree of a sign he is firmly therein, but he said it for more certainty. So likewise he says: “That a Planet is not said to be cadent from the Ascendant, unless he be removed from thence 5 degrees; as, for example, the Ascendant in 9 degrees of Aries, and a Planet was in the 5th degree thereof ‘Ptolemy’, and many other sages affirm, That Planet to be in an angle, with whom I agree; yet some would have it, that a Planet should be said to be in an angle, when he is in the very degree of the Ascendant, or one degree before it or two after it; but they meant in Revolutions, and that they might be so certain as not to be in the least deceived. But I have experienced that a Planet is in an Angle to the space of 5 degrees beyond the cusp; for as once I sought the Revolution of a year, I found Mars in the 5th degree beyond the cusp of the angle of the earth in Capricorn, South Latitude, which signified the killing of the Roman Emperor; and acquainted him with it, for his court at ‘Grofsietti’ and I at ‘Forlirii’; and it was found that ‘Pandulfus de Farsenella’ and ‘Theobaldus Franciscus’, and divers others of the secretaries had conspired to slay him, and none of his own Astrologers observed it, because they did not believe that Mars was in an Angle, for he was 4 degrees beyond the cusp and 58 minutes in their opinion; however, after a Planet shall be removed from the cusp or line of any angle full 5 degrees or more, he is to counted Cadent from that Angle.”
- The 59th is to Consider, Whether the significator be behind the cusp of an angle 15 degrees and no more; for he shall be said to be in an Angle as well as he that is exactly there, as ‘Zaell’ affirms; whence he said before that it was not in an Angle, nor had any strength there beyond the 1 5th degree after the cusp of the Angle: For example, the Ascendant is 4 degrees of Taurus, and the end thereof was behind the Angle, whatever planet is posited from the 4th to the 19th degree thereof is in the angle, but what is beyond that is not; but Ptolemy seems to imitate, though he says not expressly, “that every planet who shall be 5 degrees before, or 25 degrees after the cusp, is in the Angle.” Now ‘Zaell’ would clear the doubt, lest that great distance of the planet from the Angle should hinder the business.
“The same Ptolomy (from whom I cannot dissent) seems to assert, That no part of any house remains void of vertue; and my self am of opinion, I think not idlely, that every planet that is in any house shall be said to be in that house where he is found, from the beginning of the house even to the end thereof; and therefore I say in the house, not in the sign, because sometimes the same house comprehends more than one sign and sometimes less; for it seems ridiculous that any part of any house should continue idle, and be left void of vertue.
- The 60th is to Consider, Whether the significator be in a Sign fixed, common, or moveable; because in a fixed Sign he signifies stability and countenance of the thing begun, or to be undertaken, or enquired of, In a common Sign, a change with a return or repeating of it, that the same will once be broken off, and afterwards begun again, or something added, or other alteration happen; for which reason in things that require alteration, as buying, selling, or the like, we should put the Significator and Moon, or one of them, into a common sign, but in a moveable Sign it signifies a sudden change, a quick despatch or end whether good or evil. And therefore in matters where we desire a sudden conclusion, we ought to put the Significator in moveable Signs; but things that we desire should be fixed and endure, we ought to place them in fixed Signs, there we would have a mean, let them be in common Signs, understand the same always of the nature of the Moon, if at any tine that canst observe it.
- The 61st is to Behold, Whether the Lord of the Ascendant or Moon, be with the Dragon’s Head or Tail; for that is an impediment in all affairs, and the hindrance or mischief wilt proceed from a cause simplified by that House the Dragon’s Head or Tail hurts, unless it be corporal for they have no Aspect or Opposition. And it is worse when the Significator or Moon goes towards them, than when they go from them; for in the first case is signified the mischief in its full height, like a man in a ship that is split in the sea, when there is no hope. But in the last, ‘tis like a ship that is only in danger, but has hopes and probabilities of escaping. And note that when the significator or Moon goes to the Dragon’s Head, its malice is augmented, for its nature is to increase, and when they go to the Tail, the mischief is not absolutely at the worst, as ‘tis when they go from it, that is, within one degree; for from one degree forwards ‘tis not so great as in that degree, although much; and from 1 degree to 3 degrees less, and from 4 degrees to 5 degrees yet less, and from 5 degrees to 7 degrees very small; from 7 degrees to 9 degrees smaller, and from thence to 12 degrees little or nothing at all.