Part 9

PLATE I.--FIGURE 1.

Of the Twelve Houses.--The 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses--angular.--These are of more durable signification than the others, denoting the wife or husband--a situation under Government, &c. &c.

The twelve houses have signification of all the various concerns of human life, and of nature at large.

For Example.--When the cusp of the first house is well aspected by, or has the presence of Jupiter or Venus, and these are not afflicted by the aspects of evil planets, they preserve life in infancy, and give health, and often an agreeable person.

But if their rays or presence (says Varley) should be thrown on the cusp of the second house, then the native will have success in concerns of property. The Sun in this house helps to disperse property; and if he be peregrine, that is, in the sign of a contrary nature to his own, where he has no dignities, and is without reception, then the native's property is dispersed in vainglorious expenses; but if the Sun be in Leo, his property in general will be ample enough to admit of instant acts of bounty and benevolence.

In a similar strain, Astronomers particularize the remaining eleven houses. It would be impossible, in any reasonable space, to describe further the operations of the planets in the several houses thus assigned to them.

As to when the Planets are most powerful.--Barrett says:--The planets are powerful when they are ruling in a house, or in exaltation, or triplicity, or term, or face, without combustion of what is direct in the figure of the heavens; but we must take care that they are not in the bounds or under the dominion of Saturn or Mars. The angles of the ascendant, and 10th and 7th are fortunate; as also the lord of the ascendant, and place of the Sun and Moon.

The Moon is powerful if she be in her house, in exaltation, in triplicity, in face, or in degree convenient for the desired work, &c. &c.

FIGURE 2.

VARLEY'S TABLE OF SIGNS, HOUSES, EXALTATION, AND TRIPLICITY.

The falls of the Planets are opposite to their Exaltations, and their Detriments opposite to their Houses.

Aries and Scorpio are the house of Mars

Taurus and Libra are the house of Venus [Venus]

Gemini and Virgo are under the dominion of Mercury [Mercury]

Cancer is the house of the Moon

Leo is the house of the Sun

Sagittarius and Pisces are the houses of Jupiter [Jupiter]

Capricorn is the house of Saturn [Saturn]

And Aquarius is governed by the Herschel Planet [Uranus]

PLATE II.

This table gives the usual symbols employed for indicating the several planets, and which are still retained in Astronomy for simplicity of expression, but which Astrologers venerate as possessing a cabalistic character.

Associated with these symbols are the names of certain principal angels, spirits, or demons, forming, however, but a small proportion of such airy nothings.

The Astrological Symbols were also employed by the Alchemists to indicate the seven metals then known.

PLATE III.--SQUARING THE CIRCLE.

Mr. James Smith, of Liverpool, the most laborious among recent workers in this field of enquiry, claiming to have propounded several simple and exact methods, offers the following as sufficiently demonstrative:--

I construct my diagrams in the following way:--I draw two straight lines at right angles, making O the right angle. From the point O, in the direction OA, I mark off four equal parts together equal to OA, and from O, in the direction of OB, I mark off three of such equal parts together, equal to OB, and join AB. It is obvious, or rather self-evident, that AOB is a right-angled triangle, of which the sides that contain the right angle are in the ratio of 4 to 3, by construction. With A as centre and AB as interval, I describe the circle X, produce AO and BO to meet and terminate in the circumference of the circle at the points G and C, and join AC, CG, and BG, producing the quadrilateral ACGB. I bisect AG at F, and with O as centre, and OF as interval, describe the circle Z. The line OF is the line that joins the middle points of the diagonals in the quadrilateral ACGB; and it follows that, {AG^2 + CB^2 + 4(OF^2)} = {AC^2 + CG^2 + BG^2 + AB^2.}

When AO = 4, we get the following equation:--

{5^2 + 6^2 + (4 × 1'5^2)} = {5^2 + sqrt(10^2) + sqrt(10^2) + 5^2,} or, {25 + 36 + 9} = {25 + 10 + 10 + 25} = 70. From the points B and C, I draw straight lines at right angles to AB and AC, and therefore tangential to the circle X, to meet AG produced at D, and join BD and CD, producing the quadrilateral ACDB. I bisect AD at E, and with O as centre, and EO as interval describe the circle XY, and with E as centre, and EA or ED as interval describe the circle Y.