Difference

Difference is a principle and an essential part of the heavens and stars, it is the principle whereby each sign and planet is different from the others. Now just as the heavenly bodies cannot be naturally good without natural goodness, or great without natural greatness, or lasting without natural duration, or powerful without natural power, neither can they be different without natural difference.

Difference in heaven effectively causes difference below, like the different sorts of heat, light and dryness of fire caused by upper difference as the heat of fire is caused by the heat of Mars in one way and in another way by the heat of Aries. And likewise with the Sun, Jupiter and Gemini whose heat increases the heat of fire; and likewise with Saturn that increases the dryness of fire in one way while Aries does this in another way. The Sun holds all this diversity in its heat on account of the differences among planets and signs in terms of A B C D. Like a traveler on a journey who constantly moves from place to place, all upper movements constantly change to different places, motions, conditions, properties and qualities in view of all the different things pertaining to their essence and the influence that they transmit below. Thus, as upper movement proceeds with difference, its influence is differently received below and this is why the judgments of astronomy are very difficult and hard to understand.

Aries has three parts: E, F and G. Each part has ten degrees and each degree is subdivided into minutes and in all these subdivisions we finally come to one minute that can be in E, F, or G, and the movement in this minute holds the true judgment regarding a nativity or a question. All this results from difference above and sometimes several movements contribute to the same judgment, as when delivery is slow at birth, or as a question is formulated slowly when asking an astronomer about good or bad luck, war, scarcity and other similar questions. This is why the virtue of judgments lies in the extended aggregation of movements to a single combination of signs and planets that determine their greater or lesser goodness, greatness, power and virtue.

Difference above determines differences in colors, flavors and natural properties and all things below are so differentiated by difference above that nothing here can be exactly the same as another thing without any difference. Thus no one can have a face identical to someone else's face without any difference, nor can any painter paint exactly the same shape as painted by another painter, without any difference between the two. All this is the result of the great difference above that causes, by successive movements, differences below and thus we can marvel at the fact that nothing here below can be exactly the same as another thing without any difference.

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