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Welcome to Encyclopedia Thelemica
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Today's featured article
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Astrology
In past centuries astrology often relied on close observation of astronomical objects and the charting of their movements, which might be considered a protoscience in this regard. In modern times astrologers have tended to rely on data drawn up by astronomers and set out in a set of tables called an ephemeris which shows the changing positions of the heavenly bodies through time.
Central to all astrology is the natal chart (other names for this diagram in English include horoscope, natus, nativity, astrological chart, map, birth chart, cosmogram, or simply chart). This is a diagrammatic representation in 2 dimensions of the celestial bodies' apparent positions in the heavens from the vantage of a location on Earth at a given time and place. Interpretation of a natal chart is governed by:
- Astrological aspects: the positions of the heavenly bodies relative to each other.
- Their positions relative to the astrological signs of the zodiac.
- Their positions relative to the horizon (the ascendant), zenith and nadir, and in one of the systems of astrological houses.
Common traditions of astrology include Western astrology, Chinese astrology, Jyotish (Vedic astrology) and Kabbalistic astrology. All of these can be subdivided by type, such as natal astrology (the study of a person's birth, or natal chart), horary astrology (a chart drawn up to answer a specific question), and electional astrology (a chart drawn up ahead of time to determine the best moment to begin an enterprise or undertaking). Mundane astrologers believe correlations exist between geological phenomena (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.) and astronomical phenomena (the movement of celestial bodies in relation to Earth). Political astrology has existed for thousands of years as well, while some astrologers use ancient methods that are supposed to be able to predict the weather and weather-related phenomena (storms, floods, etc.), which is collectively known as meteorological astrology.
A few Western but all Jyotish (Hindu) astrologers use the sidereal zodiac that uses the true astronomical positions of the stars. The majority of Western astrologers base their work on the tropical zodiac that uses a view of the heavens as seen 2000 years ago. ( more...)
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Did you know...
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- ... that Nicholas Flamel was a French alchemist who lived in the fifteenth century, and is supposed to have been the most accomplished of the European alchemists? It is claimed that he succeeded at the two magical goals of alchemy: he made the Philosopher's Stone that turns lead into gold, and he and his wife Perenelle achieved immortality.
- ... that "Egypt" is a Greek corruption of the phrase "Het-Ka-Ptah", or "House of the Spirit of Ptah"?
- ... that the term chaos magic first appeared in print in the widely influential "Liber Null" by Peter Carroll, first published in 1978?
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"I dined at Cosegrave's house one night. He had asked Evangeline Adams to meet me as being a famous astrologer. The meeting led to a lengthy association. She wanted me to write a book on astrology for her. The plan failed through her persistent efforts to cheat me out of the profits, and her obstinate ignorance of the elementary facts of nature combined with an unconquerable antagonism to the principles of applying common sense to the science.
I learned a good deal, nevertheless. The work kept me concentrated on the subject. At this time, it was my invariable practice to judge from the personal appearance of every stranger I met the sign rising at his birth. Having made up my mind, I would ask him to tell me either the hour or the day of his birth. I could then calculate the missing day as thus: Suppose I judge my man to have Libra in the ascendant and he tells me his birthday is October 1st. When the sun is in 5° or 6° Libra, I can tell him he was born at sunrise, within a limit of error of about two hours. Alternatively, should he say, "I was born at midnight", I can give his birthday to within a fortnight or so of Christmas. I tabulated my results over a considerable period and found that I was right in a little over two cases in three. Where I was wrong, I found that either the sign I had chosen for his ascendant was that occupied by his sun, which in some people determines the personal appearance more effectively than the ascendant, or else, in erecting his horoscope I found the rising sign occupied by planets whose nature modified the sign so that it could be mistaken for the one I had picked out."
("The Confessions of Aleister Crowley", Chapter 77)
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Today in Aleister Crowley's life
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