Eclipses: Astronomically and Astrologically Considered and Explained

Last updated
Eclipses: Astronomically and Astrologically Considered and Explained
AuthorWalter Gorn Old
Publication date
1915
Publication place United Kingdom

Eclipses: Astronomically and Astrologically Considered and Explained (1915) [1] is an astrological text by famous English astrologer Walter Gorn Old, otherwise known as Sepharial. The book claims to teach the readers how to predict world events with solar and lunar eclipses.

Contents

Basic Theory of the Book

There are two core ideas provided in this book:

  1. Whenever an outer planet (usually Mars) conjoins or opposite the spot of a recent eclipse in longitude, then a natural disaster or local conflict is bound to happen. The location of the incident is usually a long the path on which the eclipse is most visible.
  2. Whenever a solar or lunar eclipse makes a turbulent aspect (e.g. square or opposition) to a person's natal chart, it usually indicates an unfavourable trend to that person, even though the effect might not be immediate.

Examples of Mars activating the eclipse point

Here are two example from the book. The first one is the Balkan War started in 1912, which was just three years before the book was published. Sepharial thought that it was related to a solar eclipse in 1912. (Key: SE = solar eclipse, LE = lunar eclipse)

Solar Eclipse and the Balkan War
DateEclipseTransitEvent
17 Apr 1912Annular SE in 27° Aries.---The eclipse path was across Europe, meaning that it was visible on the Balkan Peninsula.
14 Oct 1912---Mars at 27° Libra (opposition)It was the outbreak of the Balkan War.
Jun 1913---Mars at 27° AriesThe war broke out again.

The second example is the First World War, just one year before the book was published. Sepharial thought that it was related to a lunar eclipse a few months before the war.

Lunar Eclipse and the First World War
DateEclipseTransitEvent
12 Mar 1914Partial LE at 21° Virgo.--This eclipse was visible in Europe and America.
29 Jul 1914---Mars at 21° VirgoGermany, Russia and France plunged into war. Great Britain joined later.
21 Mar 1918---Mars at 21° Virgo againGermany launched its last great offensive. (Mentioned later work The Arcana: Or Stock and Market Key. [2] )

Examples of eclipses transiting natal charts

Sepharial used the example of German Kaiser Wilhelm II to show how eclipses could bring bad luck to a person by bad transits.

The World War Eclipses and Kaiser Wilhelm II
DatePhenomenonInterpretation
17 Jan 1859Kaiser Wilhelm II was born with MC at Pisces 21 and Asc at 17 Cancer.---
12 Mar 1914Partial LE at 21° Virgo, opposited the Kaiser's MC.It signifies the Kaiser's downfall in the Great War to come.
29 Jul 1914Mars transited 21° Virgo, opposited the Kaiser's MC.
7 Jan 1917Total LE at 17° Cancer, loosely conjoined the Kaiser's Asc.It signals that the end of the war was close.
22 Aug 1917Mars transited 17° Cancer, loosely conjoined the Kaiser's Asc.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eclipse</span> Astronomical event where one body is hidden by another

An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three celestial objects is known as a syzygy. An eclipse is the result of either an occultation or a transit. A "deep eclipse" is when a small astronomical object is behind a bigger one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of astronomy</span>

The history of astronomy focuses on the contributions civilizations have made to further their understanding of the universe beyond earth's atmosphere. Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences, achieving a high level of success in the second half of the first millennium. Astronomy has origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory. Early astronomical records date back to the Babylonians around 1000 BCE. There is also astronomical evidence of interest from early Chinese, Central American and North European cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zodiac</span> Area of the sky divided into twelve signs

The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Also within this zodiac belt appear the Moon and the brightest planets, along their orbital planes. The zodiac is divided along the ecliptic into 12 equal parts ("signs"), each occupying 30° of celestial longitude. These signs roughly correspond to the astronomical constellations with the following modern names: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

Levi ben Gershon, better known by his Graecized name as Gersonides, or by his Latinized name Magister Leo Hebraeus, or in Hebrew by the abbreviation of first letters as RaLBaG, was a medieval French Jewish philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, physician and astronomer/astrologer. He was born at Bagnols in Languedoc, France. According to Abraham Zacuto and others, he was the son of Gerson ben Solomon Catalan.

Hindu astrology, also called Indian astrology, Jyotisha and, more recently, Vedic astrology, is the traditional Hindu system of astrology. It is one of the six auxiliary disciplines in Hinduism that is connected with the study of the Vedas.

The Hindu calendar, also called Panchanga, is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping based on sidereal year for solar cycle and adjustment of lunar cycles in every three years, but differ in their relative emphasis to moon cycle or the sun cycle and the names of months and when they consider the New Year to start. Of the various regional calendars, the most studied and known Hindu calendars are the Shalivahana Shaka found in the Deccan region of Southern India and the Vikram Samvat (Bikrami) found in Nepal and the North and Central regions of India – both of which emphasize the lunar cycle. Their new year starts in spring. In regions such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the solar cycle is emphasized and this is called the Tamil calendar and Malayalam calendar and these have origins in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. A Hindu calendar is sometimes referred to as Panchangam (पञ्चाङ्गम्), which is also known as Panjika in Eastern India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shadow</span> Area where light is blocked by an object

A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or a reverse projection of the object blocking the light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunar node</span> Where the orbit of the Moon intersects the Earths ecliptic

A lunar node is either of the two orbital nodes of the Moon, that is, the two points at which the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic. The ascending node is where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic hemisphere, while the descending node is where the Moon enters the southern ecliptic hemisphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panchangam</span> Traditional Hindu calendar

A panchāngam is a Hindu calendar and almanac, which follows traditional units of Hindu timekeeping, and presents important dates and their calculations in a tabulated form. It is sometimes spelled Panchāngamu, Pancanga, Panchanga, Panchaanga, or Panchānga, and is often pronounced Panchāng. Panchangas are used in Jyotisha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rahu</span> Hindu deity representing ascending lunar node

Rāhu is one of the nine major celestial bodies (navagraha) in Hindu texts and the king of meteors. It represents the ascension of the Moon in its precessional orbit around the Earth, also referred as the north lunar node, and along with Ketu, is a "shadow planet" that causes eclipses. Despite having no physical existence, Rahu has been allocated the status of the planet by ancient seers owing to its strong influence in astrology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrological sign</span> Twelve 30° sectors of the ecliptic, as defined by Western astrology

In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30-degree sectors that make up Earth's 360-degree orbit around the Sun. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. The astrological signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. The Western zodiac originated in Babylonian astrology, and was later influenced by the Hellenistic culture. Each sign was named after a constellation the sun annually moved through while crossing the sky. This observation is emphasized in the simplified and popular sun sign astrology. Over the centuries, Western astrology's zodiacal divisions have shifted out of alignment with the constellations they were named after by axial precession of the Earth while Hindu astrology measurements correct for this shifting. Astrology was developed in Chinese and Tibetan cultures as well but these astrologies are not based upon the zodiac but deal with the whole sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astronomical clock</span> Clock with special mechanisms and dials to display astronomical information

An astronomical clock, horologium, or orloj is a clock with special mechanisms and dials to display astronomical information, such as the relative positions of the Sun, Moon, zodiacal constellations, and sometimes major planets.

Sudines was a Babylonian sage. He is mentioned as one of the famous Chaldean mathematicians and astronomer-astrologers by later Roman writers like Strabo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese astronomy</span> Aspect of science history

Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categorized in the twenty-eight mansions have been found on oracle bones unearthed at Anyang, dating back to the mid-Shang dynasty. The core of the "mansion" system also took shape around this period, by the time of King Wu Ding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babylonian astronomy</span>

Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia. The numeral system used, sexagesimal, was based on sixty, as opposed to ten in the modern decimal system. This system simplified the calculating and recording of unusually great and small numbers.

Often called lunar mansion, a lunar station or lunar house is a segment of the ecliptic through which the Moon passes in its orbit around the Earth. The concept was used by several ancient cultures as part of their calendrical system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babylonian astrology</span>

Babylonian astrology was the first known organized system of astrology, arising in the second millennium BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamma (eclipse)</span> Measure of the alignment of an eclipse

Gamma of an eclipse describes how centrally the shadow of the Moon or Earth strikes the other body. This distance, measured at the moment when the axis of the shadow cone passes closest to the center of the Earth or Moon, is stated as a fraction of the equatorial radius of the earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supermoon</span> Full or new moon which appears larger

A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth. The technical name is a perigee syzygy or a fullMoon around perigee. Because the term supermoon is astrological in origin, it has no precise astronomical definition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grahana</span> Sanskrit term for eclipse

Grahana refers to the Sanskrit term for an eclipse. Eclipses are regarded to be noteworthy phenomena in Hinduism, and legends involving their origin and purpose are featured in Hindu mythology.

References

  1. Sepharial (1915). Eclipses: Astronomically and Astrologically Considered and Explained. London: Foulsham.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  2. Sepharial (2010). The Arcana: Or Stock And Share Key (Facsimile reprint of the 1920 original ed.). Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN   978-1162632674.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .