2 Second part of part three

Mutual oblique aspects of signs and planets

This part deals with the oblique aspects among signs and planets. For instance, whenever Aries forms the dominant combination in a nativity, it stands at midheaven with three signs after it, namely Taurus, Gemini and Cancer and three signs before it, namely Pisces, Aquarius and Capricorn. Thus, signs mutually form oblique aspects that affect any human nativity occurring at the center of the upper hemisphere. Hence, when Aries is highest in the sky and most directly above the meridian, it rules the good and bad fortune of natives born in places more directly in line with Aries than with any other sign. And according to the good or bad planet or planets in it, Aries is favorable or unfavorable and rules good fortune with Jupiter and misfortune with Mars and so forth, as we said in the first part.

Supposing that the dominant combination is Saturn in Aries while Jupiter is in Taurus, the Sun in Gemini, Mercury in Cancer, Mars in Pisces, Venus in Aquarius and the Moon is in Capricorn. Here, planets are in oblique aspect to one another and they all aspect the nativity of the native born under Aries. And the aspects of the planets and signs can be favorable or unfavorable: for instance, C in Taurus aspects and opposes Jupiter that aspects and opposes C with A, and Saturn in Aries increases dryness with C in B against Jupiter's moisture as Jupiter increases the heat in B and gives moisture against C. The heat in Gemini helps heat in Aries and its moisture opposes the dryness in B; the Sun with its B helps B in Aries, and Cancer opposes its D to B in Aries while Mercury is subject to this contrariety. D in Pisces is against B in Aries and Mars contradicts Pisces by helping Aries as it is of its own complexion. Aquarius contradicts Aries with moisture and agrees with Aries in heat, and Venus' D opposes B in Aries and heat in Aquarius. Cold in Capricorn is against B in
Aries and Capricorn's dryness agrees with that of Aries. And the Moon is simply against B in Aries, heat in Aquarius and dryness in Capricorn. 

Following the example we gave in the previous part you can learn about the aspects between planets and the judgments drawn from their combinations through the mutual overcoming of letters as described in the second part of part two. The example of Aries can be understood in the same way if Taurus is the sign in the middle of the signs above the horizon with one planet in each sign, and the same applies to Gemini and the other signs.

The things we said about aspects when the planets occupy separate signs can be understood in their own way if two or more planets occupy the same sign in a nativity, for instance in a nativity with Saturn and Jupiter in Aries aspected by other planets, some concordant and some contrary. The chief combination is always the one that is the strongest on account of its placement at midheaven where it has more influence than the signs and planets that are not directly above the place of the nativity, but aspect it from oblique angles. For instance, the Sun gives more heat to the earth at noon than at any other hour of the day.

Heaven is divided in two by its diameter and the upper half where a nativity takes place will influence the fortune of the native with the signs and planets it contains, and the signs and planets in the lower half will neither be favorable nor unfavorable because good and bad influences from the lower half do not reach the native in the upper half since A B C D and E F G beneath the diameter do not cast any aspect on persons in the upper half. If a stone, for instance, were to fall from heaven all the way to the center of the earth, it would not go beyond the diameter into the other half of heaven because if it did, it would be rising and not falling.

The natural influences gathered from above in the lunar sphere are in turn gathered by the appetites of things below and more strongly through vertical than through transversal lines because A B C D impel vertical movement through lightness and heaviness. Therefore, good and bad fortune come more strongly through vertical than transversal or lateral lines and when  influences gather through oblique more than vertical aspects, there are natural defects and natives are born with malformations, crippled or misshapen and so forth.

We dealt briefly with the aspects of planets and signs in the preceding part where we  showed the way to learn how planets and signs aspect each other as oblique and indirect combinations are subordinate to the vertical and direct ones in different degrees according to their distance from the dominant vertical line.
 

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