planetics

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PlaneticsA Psycho-Ecology of the Solar System

Daniel Clark© 1994

Foreword

I don't practice astrology. But some years ago I did studyit. As a result, I developed an astrological system I calledPlanetics.

Planetics is one of many astrological systems. Like theothers, it's an experimental activity subject to change.Astrology becomes a problem when its advocates claimcertainty and completeness for it, which many have done,and may always do. But I claim nothing more for it than a

better than average look at a certain number of things. Still,astrology can help us.

Like the other astrologies, Planetics is a study of theinterplanetary forces active at a certain time at a certainplace on the Earth's surface. The Planetics researcher determines numerical energy levels for the forces, anddetermines the qualities associated with the forces, in order to learn about an event occurring at that time and place.

Astrology cannot tell us about the essence of a person.Nor can astrology tell us about all the factors that make upan event. What astrology can do is tell us about the

interplanetary components of an event. By studying thoseforces, the researcher can discover a certain amount of information about the person who is the subject of the event.

When charting human births, the Planetics researcher does not investigate people. People are mysteries. Theresearcher investigates the place of birth and the time of birth. The birth chart isn't a chart of the client. It's adiagram of the forces present when the client was born.

All of us existed before our latest birth and we've gone onexisting after it. We've traveled to places other than our birthplace. The essence of a person stretches beyond the

situation of the most recent birth. And, the client may havebeen psychologically or spiritually "reborn" since then.People are souls.

Still, the physical birth event exercises its influence. Fewof us escape the context of our physical birth event. The soulchooses the circumstances of birth.

Among those circumstances, Planetics investigates theinterplanetary factors.

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I don't present myself as a psychic or an authority of anykind. My purpose is not to prestidigitate, but just todemonstrate, to make the point that our lives are part of alarger life -- in this case, part of the life of the Solar System.

If I can show people that their lives are part of the life of

the Solar System, they might go on to conclude that their lives are part of the life of God. This understanding isliberating. It's the best therapy. My purpose is to open up themind and heart so we can feel we are part of the life of God.The other information -- about jobs, marriages,temperaments -- makes sense to me only within that context.

Introduction

Ages ago, people believed that when something wonderfulhappened on Earth, good spirits and goddesses and gods

would be present at the event. Bad spirits and demonswould be on the scene during inauspicious occurences.Some people said they could estimate the nature of anincident by seeing what spirits accompanied it.

As time went by, humans learned how to increase their control of their surroundings. To do that, they had to changetheir mental state. One apparent result was the loss of theability to directly perceive the presence of spirits. In its placearose the craft of Augury. The condition of plants, animals,weather, and astronomical phenomena associated with anevent were omens of its character and its consequences.

Finally, humans developed mathematics. In doing so, theylost their skill at reading the good and the bad omens. Acomplex science, Horoscopics, replaced the old craft.

The location on the surface of the Earth where an eventtook place became the center of a wheel of twelve Earthpoints or zones, each signifying a practical aspect of theincident. The Sun, Moon, Lunar Nodes, and Planetsindicated the general nature of the event in question.

A vast horoscopic literature has proliferated over the pasttwo or three thousand years. Analysts learn how to interpretevents by following the directions in the old texts andadapting them when necessary to contemporary situations. Idevised Planetics in an attitude of faithfulness to theancients but also with an awareness of today's -- andtomorrow's -- needs.

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Part One: Analysis

Nature and God -- I neither knewYet Both so well knew meThey startled, like Executors

of my identity.--Emily Dickinson

I operate under the assumption that planets are people:demigods.

They're also magnetic rings, wheels of energy. Their forcefields intersect and influence each other. The Earth vibrateswithin this matrix.

Her north and south poles attract extra-terrestrialmagnetic signals. The intergalactic waves then flow throughher crystalline veins. From there, the cosmic messages

radiate out to the planet's biosphere. They bond with theoxygen in the air. We inhale them.In our lungs, the iron atoms in the blood's red corpuscles

pick up the magnetic data. The impulses then circulate withthe blood to every cell, regulating our lives.

That's the way we receive influences from beyond theEarth. Not directly. But through the medium of our homeplanet. And our body's lungs and blood.

The iron in the blood's hemoglobin carries not only oxygenand universal magnetic patterns, but also consciousnessfrom the soul to every part of the body. (The soul is normally

located in the region of the physical heart, andconsciousness is the soul's energy extending outward.)Those agents sustain and shape the body and its

activities. Thus, to live a full life our primary needs are proper breathing, right thinking, and action in harmony with thecosmos.

Harmonious interaction can be achieved with the help of Planetics.

Planetics is an Earth-based horoscopic study. It is adistinctly American practice. Of course, American culture hasalways been a tossed salad of many paths. So I did goabroad in order to draw from the most ancient points of view.I drew from Australia, China, Chaldea, and from theprinciples of South Asian Horoscopics as set down in theworld's oldest literature, the Sanskrit literature.

The sages who wrote in Sanskrit called their horoscopicstudy Jyotish (the science of radiant energy). One of themany charts constructed in the Jyotish tradition is the Bhava(House) chart. I chose the Bhava chart as the focus of

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analysis in Planetics.Apart from that, Planetics is like Horoscopics everywhere.

First you chart the lines of influence between a place on theEarth, the Earth itself, and the other planets. Then you usethe diagram as a tool to analyze an event occurring at that

place at a specific time.As in ecology, so in horoscopy: the whole and the partsare an interdependent system. Any change takes place inthe microcosm and the macrocosm simultaneously.

You can comprehend the universe by studying a grain of sand. And, you can learn about that particle by studying thebodies of outer space. Things occupying space occupy eachother.

Time operates within the cosmic ecology too. An event isa seed that contains its own consequences. Planetics tellsus about an event, and what will happen as a result of the

event. For instance, the horoscopic analysis of a human birthtells us much about the future life history of the native.I developed Planetics because I believe the universe --

Nature -- constantly worships God. Each material atom andmaterial form takes part in that praise. All we need to do tomake our lives complete is to join the all-pervading reality of worship.

Planetics points the way to completeness by helping us toharmonize our particular lives with the entire cosmic pattern.It shows how we fit into the universe.

Human bodies are magnets. Our fields vibrate as part of

Nature's dance of love for God. The most effective way tolive that love is to join the music of the spheres.Planetics notates for you the choreography of your dance,

and the melody of your music.Sun Wheels

The positions of the planets at the time of an event can beanalyzed in terms of their location on the Wheel of Housesand the Wheel of Signs. The two wheel systems are studiedseparately, and then the results are combined. Manyversions of the two wheels exist. In Planetics, thefundamental organizing principle of both systems is therelationship between the Earth and the Sun.Houses

When wave-particles of magnetic energy from other planets intersect with the Earth's magnetic field, they do soat certain angles with reference to any given location on theEarth. The angle determines the House the planet occupies.

Numerical calculation of House angles begins from theposition of the Midheaven (the Zenith), which is the highest

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point of the Sun's apparent path in the sky. The Midheavenis the middle of the Tenth House. There are twelve Houses.Each takes up 30 degrees of the Wheel of Houses. Thecenter of each House (the Midhouse) is a multiple of 30degrees from the Midheaven. The Midhouse point is the

origin of the power of the House -- the position of greatestHouse influence. Away from the Midhouse, thecharacteristics of a House become less distinct, diminishingsymmetrically on either side of the midpoint. On the cuspbetween two houses, each Midhouse exerts an equalamount of (feeble) energy.

Ninety degrees east of the Zenith is the middle of the FirstHouse, a position called the Eastpoint. It does notnecessarily coincide with the physical horizon. It is ahorizontal position, not a horizonal position. Nor does itnecessarily fall along the event location's latitude line. It falls

on a line perpendicular to a line passing from the Zenith tothe Nadir (the middle of the Fourth House). The line cuttingacross the wheel from the Eastpoint to the Westpoint (themiddle of the Seventh House) is the Locational Equator.

Signs

What the Eastpoint is to the Wheel of Houses, the VernalEquinox is to the Wheel of Signs.

The Eastpoint marks the change of the Sun's daily travelfrom underneath the Locational Equator to above it.

Similarly, the Vernal Equinox point marks the change of theSun's annual travel from underneath the Terrestrial Equator to above it. The Vernal Equinox is the position of the Sunnear the end of the third week of March. It indicates thebeginning of the First Sign in the Wheel of Signs.

In contrast to the House situation, the strongest points onthe Wheel of Signs are not always 30 degrees apart. Theplace of greatest influence varies widely from Sign to Sign,and is not as important as an energy source. So whereas theEastpoint sits at 15 degrees of the First House, the VernalEquinox point is placed at zero degrees of the First Sign.There's no "Midsign" to take into consideration.

Why does the Vernal Equinox have this significance?The Wheel of Signs (the Zodiac) is a multi-cycle standingwave of energy created by the interactions of planetarymovements within the Solar System. It occupies the disc-shaped space of the collective orbits of the planets.

The prime Zodiac is the Wheel of Signs as seen from theSun. The Sun conducts the music of the spheres as it spins

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the planets around.That same wheel displays a different pattern when

observed from the point of view of the Earth. But we can'tsee it with our eyes. So how can we know what the patternis? The Sun-Earth relationship is the key. The two points

where the Sun's apparent path intersects the plane of theEarth's equator -- the points called the Vernal Equinox andthe Autumnal Equinox -- are the key. Starting from anEquinox point, the Heliocentric Zodiac may be translated intothe Terrestrial Zodiac. The Spring Equinox occurs at the timeof Nature's "rebirth," so early astrologers chose it, rather than the Fall Equinox, as the marker for the zero point of Aries. That assignment of a starting point is the method for understanding the Zodiac from our Earth-based locations.

Despite the custom of naming the Sign Wheel's 12divisions after constellations, the stars have nothing to do

with the Zodiac in Planetics. The Sun, with its system of planets, is the standard.

The Sun

Both the beginning of the Wheel of Houses and thebeginning of the Wheel of Signs are points where the Earth"bows down" to the Sun. That is, the path of the Earth dipsbelow the Solar path. Thus the Sun is the indicator planet for the First House, and the Sun is exalted in the First Sign.Hindu sages call the Sun "the king of the planets."

InterpretationThe qualities associated with each of the nine Planets,twelve Houses, and twelve Signs are fixed. That total of 33unvarying blocks of information is brought into play in eachincident and with each person. They are the sum total of theraw material in every horoscope.

Individuality enters in from the way the 33 are combined.According to the laws of permutation, there are a trilliontrillion possible arrangements.

The trick is, then, how to interpret the effects of thecombinations. After first logical principles are understood, theresearcher's time is spent in interpretation, much of whichproceeds intuitively.

Part Two: Stories

Planetics is an American Horoscopics. It is driven by avision of the cosmos that is indigenous to our Americancontinents, the land masses bordered by the Atlantic Ocean

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to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the west, betweenlongitudes 30 degrees west and 165 degrees west.

Planetics makes use of approaches drawn from Asian,Australian, African, and European traditions. But the centralimpulse is American.

To date there has been no indigenous AmericanHoroscopics. Those who lived here before 1500 AD were,however, in close touch with cosmic forces. They wereaware of the relations between earthly and universal events.They knew that individual psychology, social change, andother factors of our daily lives are part of a drama on a larger scale, and that the features of the parts could be understoodbetter by consulting the features of the whole.

When the European invaders arrived, they brought withthem a European Horoscopics, which they called (in English)Astrology. In the centuries that followed, systems from India

and China made some impact on American practitioners. Butwe have yet to see a really American approach. Part of theproblem is that we have no pre-1500 mathematicalastrological heritage to work with. So no doubt we will haveto adopt our mathematics from another land, or many other lands. Our contribution will be to invest that body with anative American consciousness.The American Earth

The essence of the American attitude lies in the weight itgives to the Earth.

Pardon me while I indulge in a personal reminiscence. As

a child I possessed an unshakeable conviction that Godcame to humans not from the sky, but from the Earth. On theother hand, I also spent hours, at home and in theclassroom, drawing pictures of planets, comets, stars, andlightning bolts. Once when I was sick at home for a longtime, my young classmates sent me a gift they felt wasappropriate for me: a book on astronomy.

For me, in those early years of my life, things above werematerial and things below were spiritual. It was a reversal of the usual opinion. (Perhaps my breech birth had somethingto do with it! I'm willing, I'm even happy, to admit thatPlanetics is a personal way of working.)

Today I still consider the Earth more important than theheavens, though as before the dwellers in the sky capturemy imagination too.

Out of this respect for both the underfoot and theoverhead I generated the horoscopic method I calledPlanetics. Both Earth Houses and Sky Signs are given their due. But of the two, the Earth Houses take predominance.

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Another contrast, between Asia and Europe, also worksitself out here. Planetics employs a House system and aSign system thought to be part of European Horoscopics.But I placed those technics within a non-European context.When the subtleties of interpretation are infused into the

process, the myths and methods of South Asian Horoscopicsfeel more natural to me. I think Vedic astrology is morefundamental than the European version.

A so-called "orthodox" Hindu astrologer wouldn't approveof my combining the two elements. Yet I'm sure what I did fitsinto the actual working methods of the ancient South Asiancraft.

Part Three: The Basics

Planetics is an American astrology of the four directions

and the four seasons.The Earth's four compass points organize the Wheel of Houses. The Sun's four seasonal points organize the Wheelof Signs.The Wheel of Houses

Picture the Wheel of Houses as a circle with the Eastpointon the right, the Westpoint on the left, the Zenith on the top,and the Nadir on the bottom. The Eastpoint is the middle of the First House, the Westpoint is the middle of the SeventhHouse, the Zenith is the middle of the Tenth House, and theNadir is the middle of the Fourth House.

The Earth is in the center of the circle. (The circle itself stands for the apparent path of the Sun "around" the Earth.)Draw a horizontal line from Eastpoint to Westpoint. Draw

a vertical line from Zenith to Nadir, the two lines intersectingat the Earth. You now have a circle and a plus sign mergedin the diagram.

Use this as a graph and plot the places where the sunriseand the sunset occur at different times of the year. You'll findthat (for non-Equatorial locations) the only times when thesunrise and sunset take place at the Eastpoint andWestpoint are the two Equinox dates. At the Winter Solsticeand the Summer Solstice, the sunrise and sunset take placemany degrees away from the right angle Equinox positions.In the winter, when the North Pole tilts away from the Sun,Northern Hemisphere sunrises and sunsets take placenoticeably south of the Eastpoint and Westpoint. In thesummer, when the North Pole tilts toward the Sun, NorthernHemisphere sunrises and sunsets take place a noticeabledistance north of the Eastpoint and Westpoint.

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The annual travel of the sunrise and sunset along thehorizon line has presented a major problem to designers of House systems over the millennia, because they tie the FirstHouse to the junction of the sunrise and the horizon. Toaccomodate for that, several House systems allow the

assignation of unequal arcs to the Houses.Planetics adheres to a strict right angle system, with eachof the dozen Houses taking up a 30-degree slice of thecircle. The sunrise/horizon point (the Ascendant) is notconsidered. This is not the way any other present-dayastrologers that I know of do their work. But according to thetheory and practice of South Asian Horoscopics, the Housenumbering system may begin at a position other than theAscendant. The Moon's position is often taken as the middleof the First House (Chandra Lagna), and the Sun's positiontoo (Surya Lagna). After making that assignment, one's

analysis proceeds using the same methods as with the usualLagna.Therefore the Wheel of Houses is a sequential structure

that theoretically can begin at any point of the circle.In Planetics, set the Eastpoint as the standard for the

middle of the First House, and the analysis then proceedsaccording to the guidelines in the ancient literature. (I alsomade use of Chandra Lagna and Surya Lagna in certaincircumstances.)The Wheel of Signs

As with the Houses, so with the Signs.

Picture the Wheel of Signs as a circle with the SpringEquinox on the right, the Fall Equinox on the left, the Winter Solstice on the top, and the Summer Solstice on the bottom.The Spring Equinox is the beginning of the First Sign, theFall Equinox is the beginning of the Seventh Sign, the Winter Solstice is the beginning of the Tenth Sign, and the Summer Solstice is the beginning of the Fourth Sign.

The Sun is in the middle of the circle. (The circle itself stands for the elliptical orbit of the Earth around the Sun.)

Draw a horizontal line from the Spring Equinox to the FallEquinox. Draw a vertical line from the Winter Solstice to theSummer Solstice, the two lines intersecting at the Sun. Younow have a circle and a plus sign merged in the diagram.

Use this as a graph and plot the locations of the stars withreference to it over the past thousands of years. You'll findthat there's been a constant shifting of the stellar positions.Right now the stars in the constellation Pisces are movingaway from the Spring Equinox point, and the stars inAquarius are moving towards it.

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The movement of the stars has given rise to a major dispute among astrologers. Those who do Sidereal astrologytie the beginning of the First Sign to a stellar location. Thosewho do Tropical astrology tie it to an equinoctal location. Thepresent difference between the two methods, according to

calculations used by many, is 23 degrees of the Wheel of Signs. They're 3/4 of a Sign apart from each other.Most European and American astrologers use the Tropical

system, and most Hindu astrologers use the Siderealsystem.

My acceptance of the Tropical might not seem to meshwith my general preference for South Asian Horoscopics. Butaccording to Hindu theory and practice, the sign numberingsystem may begin at a position other than a star. For instance, the Wheel of Signs, usually divided into 12 arcs,may also be divided into 108 arcs of three degrees 20

minutes each. This results in nine First Signs around thecircle, occurring every 40 degrees. Each of the nine charts isanalyzed as if each were the entire wheel.

Therefore the Wheel of Signs is a sequential structure thattheoretically can begin at any point of the circle.

In Planetics, set the Spring Equinox point as the standardfor the beginning of the First Sign, and the analysis thenproceeds according to the guidelines in the ancient literature.(I also made use of the 108-arc Zodiac.)House Systems, Sign Systems, and Belief Systems

Vedic astrologers have customarily claimed that they are

simply following their predecessors. But in fact each of theinfluential writers contradicts one or more of the previousauthorities on at least some, and often many, occasions.Although they all adhere to a shared body of laws, still notwo of them analyze an event in exactly the same way.

Indeed, even a single astrologer can be self-contradicting.The great 20th century analyst B. V. Raman employed asystem whereby House arcs of equal size were defined bythe 30 degree arcs of the Signs. The Signs took precedence,in this way: the Sign in which the eastern horizon lay at theevent time was called the first "House," and the other Signswere numbered sequentially. Yet in his book Graha and Bhava Balas Raman assumes that Houses (Bhavas) havetheir own regions of power independent of the Signs. Hestates that "the mid-point of the bhava is always the powerfulpoint [p. 32] ... the planet gives no effect at the sandhi (junction point) whereas at the Bhavamadhya [mid-point] itgives the full effect of the Bhava [p. 6]." That is, heunderstands that Houses have their own identities separate

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from the Signs. He then goes on to say, in A Catechism of Astrology , that "the lord of a Bhava is the planet which rulesthe Rasi [Sign] in which the mid-point of the Bhava falls."And in answer to the question "How do you find out who isthe lord of the Bhava when one Bhava is represented by two

Rasis?" he answers, "Bhava Madhya represents the centralpoint of a Bhava. The lord of the Rasi where the central pointfalls is the lord of that Bhava."

In these remarks Raman gives credence to a system inwhich Houses and Signs alike have their own separate arcs(though the arcs are linked by the planet managing the Signintersected by the Midhouse point.)

Moreover, Raman states in A Manual of Hindu Astrology that the House arcs are not defined as being equally 30degrees wide. "According to the Hindus," he writes, "a Bhavameans one-third of the arc of the ecliptic intercepted

between the adjacent angles, viz ., the Udaya Lagna(Eastern Horizon), the Patala Lagna (Lower Meridian), theAsta Lagna (Western Horizon, and the Madhya Lagna(Upper Meridian)." So if the latitude of the event beingstudied is non-equatorial, in which case the relationshipbetween the horizons and the meridians is not that of a rightangle, then the Houses will vary in size, except at the Springand Fall Equinoxes.

Thus not only did Raman advocate separate boundariesfor Houses and Signs, he also proposed that Houses haveunequal arcs for most of the Earth during most of the year.

Yet he did not follow those rules in his own work, at leastas far as the examples in his books are concerned.The fact of the matter is that Hindu Horoscopics can allow,

and in practice does allow, more than one House systemand Sign system. To set the middle of the First House, or thezero point of the First Sign, here or there is up to theindividual analyst. The method of analysis includes theanalyst. It's personal. You have to operate out of the story of the universe that you have faith in, if you're going to beeffective.

To repeat: you have to operate out of the story of theuniverse that you have faith in. That story is the major premise, the foundation, of your work.

I am an American. Therefore I am democratic andmulticulturalist.

I suggest that an indigenous American Horoscopics is1. Earthy2. Democratic3. Multicultural

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4. Divine.The strict division some people make between "Vedic" and

"Western" Horoscopics is artificial. Indian and European andAmerican and Chinese analysts use a great variety of methods of analysis and they all can learn from each other.

Addey's study of aspects applies in any region. Parashara'stechnique of House-ownership Yogas works anywhere.There may be differences of emphasis between differenttraditions, but all that means is you can choose the one thatsuits you best.

It's important what method you use to determine thelocation of the First Midhouse and the beginning of the FirstSign. That shows what your view of the universe is -- andyour view of life in the universe.

What is a House, and what is a Sign? There are objectivemathematical calculations involved, but up front there's your

personal a priori major premise controlling the numbers. Sohow you arrange the Wheel of Houses and the Wheel of Signs reveals how you will interpret people's lives for them.

You will place your clients within the kind of universe youhave faith in.

It's the same as going to a healer of the body or mind. For your body, you can go to a surgeon or an herbalist. For your mind, you can go to a clinician or a Jungian. You choose thekind of analysis and cure that you're going to get. Thephilosophy of the healer is important to the client. The sameholds true for Horoscopics. There are a variety of

philosophical approaches, and they are reflected in theHouse systems and Sign systems.Wheels

Quadrantal wheels play a significant part in the spiritualiconography of the cultures indigenous to our Americancontinents. The plus sign represents the Earth. The circlerepresents the Cosmos. Merged together, the resultingsymbol stands for the Earth in the Cosmos. As anindigenous American craft, Planetics makes use of thisshape as the graphic organizer of its operations.

Let's not neglect other shapes, though. For instance, theEarth has several shapes. They're all simultaneous and alltrue. Each shape corresponds to a certain level of consciousness and vibratory energy.

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Here's a table of five Terrestrial shapes.

Shape Category Character Sphere Secular Orbiting the Sun

Disc Religious Between Heaven and HellHoop Mystical Halo -- an energy ringAnimal Mythical Bovine, Turtle, othersHuman Divine Goddess (Gaia, Bhumi, others)

Which one of the levels to work on? Since my analysesproceeded mostly in terms of the South Asian tradition of Jyotish, I chose the hoop.

The word Jyotish means "the science of radiant energy." Iposit that its original practitioners saw the Earth as a ring-like energy field. Perhaps that's because, from the spherical-

Earth point of view, they resided near the Equator, which is aring. Whether that's the reason, or whether energy-mysticismis the reason, they used the wheel -- the hoop -- as their Earth image.

The hoop was also the primary world-image for the earlyindigenous Americans. They saw the universe as a hoop,and each nation as a hoop. The ceremonial Medicine Circlewas a hoop, and the personal vision-shield was painted on askin stretched on a hoop.

If I were to say the Earth is flat, it would sound absurd tomy contemporaries. Yet I go one step further. I say that not

only is the Earth flat, it's a wheel -- a hoop -- a ring.South Asian metaphysics bears me out. The Sanskritword for planet is Graha, which means "energy source." InSanskrit, the energy sources in the human body are calledChakras, or "wheels." Such is the shape of an energy sourcein the vision of the ancient South Asian sages. It is aspinning ring of power.

We live our lives on one of the hoops, the Earth. Agesago, when the ancients started devising the first stages of Horoscopics, they constructed a methodology that reflectedthe Wheel image.

The Earth is a Wheel whose spokes divide it into Houses.The Sun is a Wheel whose spokes divide it into Signs. Asthe two Wheels rotate on a cosmic axis at unequal velocities,they indicate, as on a gambler's Wheel of Fortune, thepatterns of life of the dwellers on the Earth ring.

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Latitudes and Longitudes

Now that I've gotten myself into trouble by advocating thistheory, I might as well disclose all its outrageousimplications.

Since the Earth is flat, it has no latitude lines. Every placeon the planet is, so to speak, located on the TerrestrialEquator at zero degrees latitude. When calculating aHoroscope according to the Earthwheel approach, I assumezero degrees as the latitude value and go on from there.

The longitude value becomes the only indicator of thelocation of an event. Longitude lines, or Meridians, are, inthe Earthwheel way of thinking, not lines at all, but points onthe perimeter of the Hoop that is our Earth. By using only alongitudinal figure, the analyst can pinpoint the location of anevent.

The craft of Horoscopics was first developed in regionsnear zero degrees latitude. In those areas, the east-westspoke of the Earthwheel (which is always ninety degreesfrom the north- south spoke) points to the places where themoving Sun-point intercepts the visible horizon at sunriseand sunset.

But for most places on the planet -- which in spherical-Earth terms are considered to be non-Equatorial latitudes --the Sun does not usually rise in the exact East or set in theexact West. It is the misfortune of the inhabitants of thoseregions that they have invented Horoscopic systems wherein

the Ascendant position of the Sun (and the other planets) isconsidered as the determinant of the placement of theHouses.

Of course, people are thrilled by the drama of the sunriseand the sunset. But as far as Planetics is concerned, a strictright angle must define the relationship between the four cardinal spokes of the Earthwheel and the four seasonalspokes of the Sunwheel.

This implies that we are intended to live near the Equator as all humans did eons ago. Our travels have only broughtus confusion -- not the least of which is that LatitudinalHoroscopics, meant to work in non-Equatorial locations, fallsapart both logically and practically the farther you get fromthe Equator, and becomes useless in Polar locales.

To accomodate for this sorry state of affairs, I used alatitude-like concept I called the Locational Equator. It is theeast-west spoke of the Earthwheel, but presented inspherical- Earth terms.

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Part Four: Wheels Within Wheels

In August, 1992, I heard two statements that ended my15- year committment to Sidereal sign measurement.

1. A highly respected and nationally known Sidereal

astrologer, whom I count as a dear friend, told me that as heunderstands it, Sign and Nakshatra divisions don't refer tophysical star locations. Instead, he said, they are regions of space. This shook me because I'd been thinking thatSidereal astrologers did begin their Sign calculations fromphysical star positions. Furthermore, Siderealists criticizeTropical astrologers for thinking of Signs as "imaginary" or "speculative" regions of space. Yet here was an authority onthe Sidereal method agreeing with the Tropical viewpoint.

2. Shortly afterwards, an astronomy teacher at the FloridaInstitute of Technology told me that astronomers fix the zero

point of Aries at the Vernal Equinox point. I had beenthinking, mistakenly, that they used a Sidereal point. I wasshaken again! He went on to remind me about something Ialready knew but just hadn't thought about: that the starsdon't have fixed positions. Although they move gradually,they do move, and thus are not reliable standards for Signplacement. (In the jargon of Sidereal astrology, the stars areoften called "fixed.")

Those two conversations had the effect of tearing meloose from my Sidereal bearings. I began to look anew at thefoundations of Horoscopics. This present essay, written

during August, September, and October of 1992, is oneresult.I quickly came to five conclusions regarding the Signs.1. A Sun-based or Planet-based Sign system provides a

reason for explaining why each Sign has traditionally beenassociated with a particular Planet. That is, the Signs startingwith Leo and going around to Cancer are tied to asymmetrical sequence of Planetary orbits, starting with theSun (Leo) and then extending through the physical orbits outto Saturn (Capricorn, Aquarius) and back toward the Sun,with the Moon (Cancer) replacing the Sun at the end.

2. The obvious choice of a key Planet for structuring theWheel of Signs is the Sun. It is the center of the Solar System. Its gravitational force binds the system into a whole.The Sun is second in importance only to the Earth for usEarthlings, as it provides the energy and light necessary for life here. Moreover, all the Planets were originally part of theSun.

3. If I'm going to advocate a method of analysis, it has to

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be one I can explain. I don't trust a method clouded withcontradictions and unexamined assumptions. Yes, I know,reality at its heart isn't logically consistent. Even in the realmof logic, reasoning begins with a major premise that isaccepted on faith. But after that point, the laws of inference

apply. A mathematical discipline such as astrology doesbegin with an a priori assumption, but then it must proceedalong rigorously considered rational pathways of thought.Therefore, the Wheel of Signs for me is Sun-based, not star-based. The zero point of the First Sign is the location of theSun at the moment of the Vernal Equinox. This point isexact, directly calculable, and not subject to interpretation.

4. The stars outside the Solar System may be potentindicators of the features of an event. And ancient analystsmay have been able to divine their messages. But we havelost the art of discovering those truths. For instance, Hindu

Siderealist analysts quarrel over the present location of thestar Rohini, their usual referent for zero degrees Aries. Somesay the star is Zeta Piscium. Some say the star hasdisappeared. I say that when the discourse has degraded tothe extent of its present confusion, that whether or not thestar is lost, it is definite that the art is lost.

5. The Sign system, in theory, works with any beginningpoint. Why, then, choose the Vernal Equinox? Because atthat moment the Sun's path crosses from "below" theTerrestrial Equator to "above" it. At that moment, in other words, the Earth bows down to the Sun, and the Sun asserts

its all-pervading power. It's a display of the devotion and thegrandeur that fuel the movements of the cosmic wheels.Coincidentally with my revision of my views on the Sign

system, I was also questioning the basis of the Housesystem. The seasonal variation of the extent of the Eclipticarc visible above the horizon was bothering me. I tried a fewdifferent twists to correct the situation (including adiagramming method with a circular Ecliptic that could bemoved up and down a rectangular House field). Finally Isettled on the method I describe here.

Again, B. V. Raman was a great help to me. In his book AManual of Hindu Astrology he discusses the Zenith point (theMidheaven, the M. C., the Midpoint of the Tenth House, theDasama Bhava):

It is on the correct determination of this that the entirefabric of the horoscope rests. In fact, all the other Bhavas(houses) are very easily arrived at, after the longitude of

theDasama Bhava has been definitely ascertained.

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By placing emphasis on the Zenith as the starting point for House measurement, Raman opened up the possibility of discarding the Ascendant and adopting the Eastpoint as themiddle of the First House. However, he rejected thatapproach. In his book Hindu Astrology and the West he

writes:There are some who calculate the M. C. and take theascendant as 90 degrees from the M. C. This means thatthe child is supposed to be born at the equator and not atthe place of birth. Arguments are advanced in justificationof this system also. This method was originally proposedby Zariel.

Raman's objection to a firm right angle between the First andTenth Midhouses is understandable, for the reason hestates. But I feel the concept of the Locational Equator covers that objection.

In Planetics, the First, Fourth, Seventh, and TenthMidhouses form a strict right-angle cross. It is a rigid contextwithin which can be described the angle at which Planetaryenergies intersect the event site. The Eastpoint-Westpointline is perpendicular to the Zenith-Nadir line. The horizonsare not considered.

This implies that each place on the Earth is the center of the Earth.

Each place has its own Equator, a Locational Equator, thatdivides the Earth in half. In that respect, the LocationalEquator is like the Terrestrial Equator. It has its own authority

as zero degrees latitude.In my system, I treated the spot where the event takesplace as a point on the Locational Equator, which is not thesame as the place's conventional latitude line. Theintersection of the Locational Equator with the Eclipticdefines the First and Seventh Midhouses.

At any given moment all Locational Equators on the sameMeridian intersect the Ecliptic at the same junction point.Since one of those Locational Equators is the TerrestrialEquator we're all familiar with, and that Equator is at zerodegrees latitude, then it is true that all Locational Equatorsare always at zero degrees latitude. As Raman put it, "thechild is supposed to be born at the equator." In Planetics, theEquator is the only latitude there is.

Longitude lines (Meridians) remain as they are consideredconventionally. So the event site is a point on the LocationalEquator marked by the crossing of a certain LocationalMeridian. The Wheel of Houses and the Wheel of Signs,though measuring two different phenomena, are both

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founded on the relationship between the Locational Equator and the Ecliptic.

Let the middle of the First House be the point on theEcliptic intersected by the Locational Equator at the time of the event.

Let zero degrees of the First Sign be the point on theEcliptic intersected by the Locational Equator at the time of the Spring Equinox.

In one sense, the Wheel of Houses and the Wheel of Signs are not concentric. The Houses center on the Earthand the Signs center on the Sun. But practically speakingthe center of both is the event site. So the two wheels canshare a common numbering scale defined from theperspective of the event site. It could be either House-basedor Sign-based. Convention dictates using a Sign-basedgradient. This is a gradient, starting with zero degrees of the

First Sign, that moves with reference to the non-movingWheel of Houses.When diagramming the Planets' positions, I recommend

making two separate charts -- one for the Houses and onefor the Signs. However, the two can be combined, if you'rewilling to put up with a lot of confusing lines on one diagram.In India, the usual solution to this problem is to use only theSign chart and neglect the House Chart. They assume that if a certain Midhouse point falls in a certain Sign, then the Signarc defines the House designation. If the Midhouse of theFifth House stands in Sagittarius, then all of Sagittarius is

considered to be the Fifth House. But I prefer to maintain theintegrity of the House divisions on their own terms, and tomake two separate charts.

This is a democratic, and thus an American, way of doingthings. Hindus are hierarchical. Americans are egalitarian.

The placement of the beginning point at a certain locationon the wheel defines the character of the wheel -- the kind of information it can give you. House wheels starting at thehorizon, the Eastpoint, the Moon, the Sun, will yield differentkinds of information. As will Sign wheels starting at theVernal Equinox point, Zeta Piscium, or other positions.

It's your choice. That choice will reflect your state of consciousness.

A House is an energy band in a sequence of energybands that can start anywhere on the Wheel of Houses. ASign is an energy band in a sequence of energy bands thatcan start anywhere on the Wheel of Signs. The sequence isthe consistent factor in the structure of each wheel. It is arhythm set into play by the consciousness of the analyst.

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When the analyst decides to place the beginning at a certainposition on the wheel, that act of consciousness, which ispart of the universal consciousness, initiates the Housesequence or Sign sequence at that point.

No starting point is correct or incorrect. The

consciousness of the analyst is an ingredient of the wheel,as much as the Planets are.As students of the I Ching have discovered, external

events and internal states of mind are synchronous. It'simpossible to say which one creates the other. They happenat the same time, that's all. So it is with Horoscopics. Theanalyst's mind is part of the event being analyzed and part of the system of analysis.

It could all be psychic. If so, most analysts need a tool tohelp them to be psychic. The Horoscope is such a tool.

A Horoscope is a device that an analyst uses to view the

information contained in an event. The analyst uses thedevice that fits best. The validity of the device is confirmedby the accuracy of the results. Theory is interesting, butpractice is the proof.

The message of Planetics is that we are part of the Solar System and part of God. If we can see ourselves in thePlanetary arrangements, then how can we persist in thinkingthat we are cut off, independent, alone, purposeless,temporary phenomena? We are not. We are on the map.

None of us is alone. None of us is separate. We are allconnected together as parts of a whole that is greater than

the sum of us. Each of us is part of that magnificent whole.Each of us is marvelous. You are a wonder to behold. Andeven greater to behold is the whole, which is God. If wecannot see God directly, we can see God indirectly by theworkings of the parts of God. We can understand that our lives are part of a greater life. We can understand that Godis the primal identity, that the universe is a portion of thatself, and that our activities and thoughts and feelings are apart of the cosmos, reflected in the cosmos, and that there isno clear borderline between the part and the whole, eventhough each of is an individual identity.

A Horoscope cannot get us to love God. But it can give usevidence (not proof) of the existence of God. We can gainsome knowledge of God by way of astrology. And the morewe know about God, the closer we get to divine love. Thefinal step over the line into the realm of love has to be takenwith additional help (most importantly, with the grace of God), not just with knowledge. But knowledge of God putsus on the path.

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Planetics points the way -- in an American way.During these three months, my basic question has been,

in which system of Horoscopics should my loyalty beplaced? In the European system, because that's what I'veseen in the newspapers all my life and heard people chatting

about at parties? In the Hindu system, since I'm an initiateddisciple of a Bengali Vaishanva guru? Or should I place myloyalty in this American Earth, where I was born and where Ichoose to live and die -- in the mode of consciousness of those Americans who have lived and died here for thousands of years -- in the indigenous thought patterns andreligious feelings that spring out of the clay and the humusand the sand of America? I too have emerged from that soil.God, in whom my final loyalty rests, radiates out from thatsame American soil. That is my God. That is my being. Thatis my religion and my Horoscopics. The Earth, the Wheel of

Houses, takes first place. The compass directions standresolutely in charge of the Houses. The Sun and theseasons rule the heavens and the Signs. That is my worldand the world of my God. To that American God I swear myallegiance and give my love. That is my duty. The UltimatePower orders me to worship that way and I obey. No humanopinion can convince me otherwise, because I am "Daniel,"which means "God is my judge."

Afterword: Chart Interpretation

I tried to keep it simple. Out of the dozens of possibleparameters of analysis, I chose only a few.I relied heavily on the Hindu technique of Shad Bala (Six

Strengths) to determine the energy levels of the Planets andthe Houses.

The only "subordinate" chart I used was the Navamsha,which divides the Wheel of Signs into 108 sections. Themajor focus of my attention was the activity within the Housechart and the Sign chart, and the interactions between thetwo.

Three areas of interest organized my analysis: Strength,Favor, and Sequence.

1. Strength -- described in terms of dominance andrecession -- is a feature of each individual agent (Planet,Sign, or House) in the chart. Depending on certainempirically perceived factors, each agent possesses acertain intensity of dominance or recession. Strength doesnot affect Favor in the chart. Strength is qualitative, notquantitative.

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How to do it:a. Determine the strength of each agent.b. Consider the qualities of each agent.c. Give weight to the qualities of each agent according

to the strength of each agent, and describe the

resulting portrait.2. Favor -- described in terms of help and harm -- is afeature of the relations among the agents (Planets, Signs,and Houses) in the chart. Depending on certain intuitivelyperceived factors, each interaction possesses certainconditions of help or harm. Favor does not affect Strength inthe chart. Favor is qualitative, not quantitative.

How to do it:a. Give management (ownership) relations full weight,occupancy relations 2/3 weight, and aspect relations1/3 weight.

b. Within that context, give weight to the relationsaccording to the strengths of the agents involved.c. List the standard qualitative indications of the variousrelations among the agents.d. Describe the resulting portrait.

3. Sequence -- the prediction of the future consequencesof the event -- is determined according to the Hindu methodcalled Vimshottari Dasha. Mathematical operations computePlanetary periods of time proceeding from the event time.

How to do it:a. Assign the final indications for each Planet to the

Planet's corresponding period in the biographicalsequence.b. Describe the resulting biography.

That was Planetics. It exists now only in this essay and insome charts and diagrams on paper in my files. Will it ever be used by any astrologer? I tested it on a few friends andfamily members, and the results were accurate. But I didn'twant to pursue it professionally. So, Planetics remains anewborn infant, abandoned by its parent, waiting for someone to bring it up.

END

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