Zarathu Total Immersion Astrology©
Addressing
the Issues of
Planet,
House and Sign Strength
Once you’ve you printed up your chart wheel you’re ready to jump
in and start explaining it, right? Not so fast.........., gunga din!
Everything in a chart interacts with everything else, its the principal of
the thing. So some planets are stronger than others, and some houses are stronger
than others and some signs are stronger than others.......And it varies differently
in everybody's chart.
So how do you figure this out? There are a lot of rules. Here are some:
1. Sun and Moon are more powerful than other planets
2. Placement in an angular house is more powerful than in other houses.
3. If a planet is in a sign it rules or is exalted in its more powerful.
4. Planets are more powerful if the signs they rule have more planets in the
sign in the chart.
5. The ruler of the ascendant(1ST HOUSE) is more powerful than other planets.
It goes on......and on.........and on........ And then there are the rules
for how you decide which house is more powerful, and then the rules for which
sign is more powerful. Whew!!!!
I don’t know about you, but trying to put all these rules together seems
pretty tedious. But you know, if you don’t do it, then you may be barking
up the wrong tree.
For example, I have a friend who has their sun in the 29th degree in Pisces
in the 12th house which taken on the surface might lead to a bad case of indecisiveness.
However, their sun isn’t particularly strong, the house is not particularly
strong, and neither is Pisces in the chart. The 29th degree in this case is
way off.
Looking at all these rules, and being conscientious, my head ended up spinning
around and I started looking for somebody whose head also was spinning around,
but had a solution.
There is a solution. Back in the thirties, forties, and fifties, in the last
century(the one that ended a couple years ago--remember that one, the one
that all of you were actually born in?), a group with the unlikely name of
THE BROTHERHOOD OF LIGHT(which actually started back in 1889), and under the
leadership at that time of one Elbert Benjamine began to examine tens of thousands
of charts using a very detailed questionnaire(much more so that Lois Rodden’s
ADB). Through this process they developed a mathematical set of rules to determine
house, planet, and sign strength, as well as a determination of whether the
house/planet/sign is harmonious or discordant in the life of the person. Until
the age of computers doing this for each chart entailed about 12 hours of
tedious arithmetic, not hard, just tedious. A number of computer programs,
both free and costed, do this 12 hours in about......... 2 seconds.
The Brotherhood of Light perceived the chart as an energy matrix which identified
the strength/power/etc in terms of energy available to the native.
They needed a formula to solve the following four problems, and express it
in numerical terms for comparison:
1. The amount of energy designated by each natal planet, the Midheaven, and
the Ascendant, and which can be used to show the not just the natal, but also
changes that result from progressions over the life time. And this is especially
important, as the power structure in the natal chart varies as the life proceeds.
2. The energy available in each natal house and zodiacal sign.
3. Assuming that there is more than energy involved, some planets(such as
Mars and Saturn) tend, while perhaps not malefic, are not always harmonious,
while planets such as Jupiter and Venus are generally considered supportive.
As this is generally accepted, it should be also possible to develop numerical
relationships which show the planet/house/sign structures which are more supportive
for the native and those which are less supportive for the goals of the native.
In my own terminology, I call this the Limitation Quotient and the The Growth
Quotient(if you are following Zarathu Total Immersion Astrology’s expositions,
;-).
So then, the system must give a numerical response to each planet, the Midheaven,
the Ascendant , which express support/not support natally and by progression.
4. The amount of support/non-support for each house and sign.
The Brotherhood of Light called #’s 3 and 4, the HARMONY/DISCORD scale.
A complete description of this complicated system and its research that led
to it is available in THE ASTRODYNE MANUAL by Elbert Benjamine(CC ZAIN was
his pen name), or a more abbreviated version in ASTROLOGY: 30 YEARS RESEARCH,
or HOW TO READ COSMODYNES both by Doris Chase Doane.
