Peregrination in Traditional Astrology

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Peregrination

Or The Least Aspected Planet

There is a concept called peregrination.

This is usually called a planet with no Ptolemaic aspects, no essential dignity, and maybe even detriment. Many times this planet is also the the least aspected planet in the chart, but not always.

Some Astrologists, such as Noel Tyl, have found that even though the aspects of this peregrinated planet are minimal, it often tends to actually take over the chart. Essentially it often becomes like the diplomat on a diplomatic passport free to run wild in the other country. Despite all that is in the chart, characteristics of this peregrinated planet tend to take over the chart.

Now I often wondered whether this was just a concept of the microcosmic variation of our art(psychological astrology), and whether it could also be described more fully in traditional astrology so that it could even be used in mundane. But I never got a “Round Tuit” to figure out how. It remained a loose end.

I’ve described my favorite method of quantification(See Strengths and Weaknesses) , which is the Hermetic Astrology of Astrodynes. Planets represent action and the call to action, Zodiac Signs represent the motivation behind the actions, and the Houses the place and circumstances of the actions.

For those of you who don’t remember, its a complex mathematical determination of planetary/sign/house measuring energy available, harmonic energy, and discordant energy. Planets/Signs/Houses with harmonic energies offer pleasurable growth, smooth sailing, and focused action. Disharmonic energies show pain, obstacles to growth, diffuse unfocused actions, combined with a continuous feeling of an uphill battle to get what one wants. It used to take 11 hours of arithmetic calculations for each natal chart and many more if one wanted to see changes via a progression or solar arcs or a locational change. But now our gigahertz computers do the 11 hours in 3 seconds or much less.

Now..........

I found a pattern using Astrodynes(Doris Doane called them Cosmodynes, same thing astro/cosmo) to describe that “take over” aspect of the peregrine planet. It appears to break down into either of two syndromes:

1. THE “SQUEAKY WHEEL” GETS THE MOST ATTENTION

or

2. ITS THE “ONLY WHEEL” THAT WORKS RIGHT.

1. In chart of David Copperfield(9-16-1956, 6:02 AM EST, 74w22, 40n33), Mercury is peregrine. His showmanship and communication through magic in Mercury’s placement tends to dominate the chart despite its peregrine nature But its not the least aspected planet, its the 3rd most aspected one. It is also the 4th most energy developed, offering 9.8 % of the total available energy in the chart. And its the second most harmonic planet in the chart. But all the other nine planets(the hermetic system considers ASC and MC as major planetary points) are disharmonic, including the luminaries which are in the top three worst.

I can clearly see why Copperfield has Mercury running things, its one of the only planets with any harmony. All the others just yield pain, obstacles, and uphill battles to get what he wants.

2. In the Hillary Clinton Char(10-26-1947, 8:00 PM CST, 87W39, 41N51) the sun is peregrine, and its also the least aspected item in the chart. One would expect to see her sun in charge, but it often seems like it is. In terms of energy focused through it, it includes only 5.3% of the energy on the chart. Only Saturn and Neptune have less. However, in this case, its also the most harmonic, in a chart where most of the rest of the planets represent issues of uphill battles. All of the signs but Sagittarius have total disharmonic energies, and all but two of the houses are also in the negative column for smooth sailing.

3. In Howard Cosell’s chart(3-25-1920, 2:15 PM EST, 80W15, 36N06), mercury is Peregrine too, and is also the least aspected. Mercury has the least energy flowing through it, represented by only 4.3% of the total energy of the chart, but its #3 in most obstacles put in front of Howard.

The Peregrines fit into two categories,

FIRST, they were squeaky big time disharmonious wheels in the chart, causing the native to pay attention, even though they weren’t terribly powerful. But the native won’t know that since the peregrine’s scream of pain will be loud, even though their actual bite is probably more mosquito-like.

SECONDLY, the peregrine is a very strong harmonious planet, in a chart where most signs, planets, and houses have net disharmony of action, and give continuous obstacles and the feeling that everything is an uphill battle.

In the future, when I look at the least aspected planet I will also look to see whether it appears to dominate the chart. I know whether it has a dominating characteristic if its either” a squeaky wheel” or an “only wheel that works right”.