The Symbols of Western Astrology

Hermetica.info Main Page
Astrology Bibliography (The Astrology section is near the end)
Astrology Links (Section K of Western Mystery Tradition Links)
Tarot as a Counseling Language

The Symbols of Western Astrology - A Primer

    Note to the reader: I wrote this in the late 80s, just over 30 years ago, and have done only minimal revisions, corrections, and updates here. It may be considered an appendix to Tarot as a Counseling Language or a stand-alone booklet.

    It isn't our purpose here to praise, study, or belittle the efforts of astrologers to justify this old tapestry as respectable science. Neither is whether, how, or why astrology ‘works’ of any concern, yet. This much we know: at least since history began, some form of astrology more complex than the simple measurement of time and season has accompanied every major civilization. During these millennia, human beings have subjected themselves to complex, confusing, and unnatural forms of psychological stress, leaving themselves in need of a way of looking at themselves (psychology) which did not yet exist. The prototypical psychologist, then called shaman, wizard, or priest, needed three things in order to deliver on his society's need for counseling: a) a science of his own to understand the machinery of the mind and its interface with its ecosystem, b) a simple language to use as a vehicle for delivering his observations, and 3) a powerful mystique to instill credulity (a more pressing need than credibility) in the minds of those in need of advice. Clearly, the most powerful and mysterious thing in the universe was the universe. And he had ready-made divisions of the grand scheme in the systems developed for timekeeping and agriculture. All he had to do was embed the notion "as above, so below." These needs constituted and still describe the context of astrology's youth. At least this was the need underlying the evolution of the system, even if it was rarely, if ever, perceived as such until recently. The significant point is that astrology has had thousands of years to adjust, adapt, or attune itself to our human needs, regardless of its metaphysical accuracy. It is foremost a language constructed for the purpose of guidance through times of doubt and stress. The credulous, however, continue to invest it with a much grander reality and mystique. But rather than use these arguments to refute astrology as science, the believer can still make use of the work here to further refine the basic concepts of the discipline for the purposes of more specific or rigorous testing.
    The compulsion to go too far in extrapolating deductively from a simple cognitive system has been as active in astrology as anywhere else. The permutations of inventible ideas exceed the scope of the human mind, as the great mounds of books on the subject will attest. This mass of available conjecture presents an ominous challenge to the novice and threatens to preclude an understanding of the simplicity of the basic system. We will attempt at least a partial remedy here by presenting, as concisely as possible, definitions of astrology's most fundamental concepts and operations. A thorough understanding of these is sufficient both to interpret a chart and to use the symbols outside of astrology's purview and contexts. Some aspects of both ancient and modern astrology won't be discussed here. The system of 36 Decans, adopted by the Golden Dawn to add a more mysterious patina of antiquity to its Occult Tarot, will be ignored as irrelevant, even to Tarot. We can go so far as to call it silly and offend some believers. Progressions won't be discussed. Relative to other systems of correspondence, particularly to the Hebrew Kabbalah and the West's Qabalah, some innovations from the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley will be corrected, dropped, or otherwise altered. See Appendix One at the end.

    Astrology is a language. The chart is a paragraph. A planet in a sign and a house is a complete sentence, which is connected to other sentences in a paragraph by aspects. Unlike English paragraphs, the sentences or clauses don't follow one another in a linear sequence, but relate to each other reciprocally and simultaneously as a gestalt. A second major difference between astrology and English is that its limited vocabulary of less than a hundred words is defined connotatively instead of denotatively: the concepts evoke and accrue meanings and key words around a core or key meaning which cannot be simply described with a single word. The four major parts of speech (planet, sign, house and aspect) and the rules for combining them constitute the language's grammar. This is not analogy or metaphor. Some may argue that such a purely linguistic approach divorces the "science" of astrology from the sky and places the responsibility and the purview of the science purely within the human psyche. It perhaps even suggests that the science is an invention and not a discovery. But there are no lines between the stars, and the sky is not divided. There are no twos, threes, fours or twelves up there. They are not needed or useful above - only below. The mesh of the net we have cast across the deep of the cosmos can only be drawn around make-believe fish.
    The Planets are the subjects of the sentences and clauses. It may help to view them as verbs or gerunds instead of nouns. Ultimately, they are huge, complicated rocks in orbit around our star, upon which we projected our gods. Even in the beginning, these gods were part of ourselves, our "I" diffracted into a multiplicity of aspects. The planets in astrology symbolically divide an entity into functional parts, kinds of personal identity, dimensions of experience, potentials for action or modes of personal being (e.g. desiring, empowering, incorporating, etc.), and to some, these are parts of the soul.
    The Signs of the zodiac are akin to adverbs, or more specifically, intransitive adverbial predicates. The twelve signs divide life's ways of behaving into twelve types or qualities of behaving, much as matter may be said to burn, ooze, blow, blow up, be boring, etc. As adverbs, they describe a planet-subject's propensities or preferences for ways to come into play (affectively, cognitively, behaviorally, etc) its modus operandi. This is the planet's how, its most comfortable means of expression, its recurrent character or its favorite feeling.
    The Houses are akin to prepositional phrases (specifically, transitive prepositional predicates). These twelve divide life's objective realms into where's, twelve typical classes of contexts (e.g) selfhood, home, relationship, vocation, etc.). As prepositional predicates they describe a planet-subject's wont, propensity, or preference for certain situations, contexts, issues or places to manifest. They tend to be its favorite outlet or channel of expression. This does not mean that the planet will be successful in or adapt to these realms, only that the issues will tend to recur.
    Three tenses are embedded in the meanings of both the twelve signs and the twelve houses. These are the three "qualities." Through the signs they are called cardinal, fixed and mutable, and through the houses, angular, succedent and cadent. These do not equate with our more familiar tenses of past, present and future except by a stretch fit. They are compounds of both synchronic (same time, left, right, and center) and diachronic (through time, past, present, and future) elements and are defined by a conglomerate of notions. The first tense tends to concentrate on origins, the second on present states and maintenance, and the third on changes wrought.
    Four genders are also embedded in the meanings of both the signs and the houses. There are the four classical elements of fire, earth, air and water (in the zodiac order) and the four "Quadruplicities," unnamed, through the houses. Symbolic quadruplicities are nearly universal across human cultures, although specific assignments may vary. Among other things, these are Jung's four personality types, intuiting, sensing, thinking and feeling, in the order above.
    The planets, or parts of the self, operating through the energy of a sign, in the realm of a house, form the complete but dependent clause of the paragraph. It still remains for us to weave these together into a whole paragraph.
    The Aspects are akin to conjunctions (specifically, hypotactic interdependent modes) which work in both directions. They relate the dependent clauses one to the other, simultaneously and reciprocally in specific ways (e.g. cooperates with, at cross purposes to, etc.). Unaspected clauses should be viewed as paratactically conjoined (as by a semicolon), not really independent, since self is not really split into parts. The aspects thus describe the integration of experience within and among the various dimensions of selfhood. They may refer, for instance, to the way the mind relates to the heart. If the planets represent one's personal dynamics, then the aspects represent the biomechanics operative prior to personal output.
    The Ascendant or rising sign ties the entire grid of of houses and points to a separately rotating wheel of the zodiac. This is astrology's equivalent of the theme sentence introducing a paragraph. It sets an interpretive tone for the entire gestalt. It's the equivalent of selecting and establishing a reference coordinate system in the language of analytic geometry.
    Lastly, the paragraph is peppered with assorted forms of punctuation, interjections, modifiers, and complex logical loops. The most significant of these are discussed below in the contexts of the parts of speech to which they most apply.
    The above grammar, given practice, should enable one to assemble the elements of a chart's vocabulary into a meaningful whole or gestalt. As a final note, a reader should always be on the lookout for features of unusual coincidence, such as groupings of planets in a quadrant, house, element or sign, or the lack or dominance of a particular element. In such a case, some specific term or structural component of the language can assume as much importance as a clause.
    The basic vocabulary of astrology is presented below in thesaurus form. The thesaurus is by no means complete.

The Planets

Sol and Luna - the Lights
    The source and manifestation of the vital forces, the light divesting of matter, and light investing in form, Genius and Psyche, the fiery spirit and the watery soul.

Sol:
QBLH: #6, Tipareth, Resh
Tarot: The Sun, the Sixes
Yi: Bagua Li, flame
Cycle: 1 year geocentric, 365-1/4 days
Sentience, the inner light, the sense of being alive, the spark within or elan vital, vital force or essence, spirit. Attention, awareness, self-consciousness as a flame, the release of energy trapped by photosynthesis, with better organization than a typical flame, light that learns. Deep self as an energy system, with basic drives for wholeness, health and identity.
Powers: integrity, individuality, character, self-direction, conscious will or willingness, affirmation, liberty, personal authority.
Feelings: spirited, hearty, radiant, luminous, alive, vital, shameless, sunny, energetic, lively, bright, entitled.
By sign: the personality's fuel or favorite way of expressing
By house: one's favorite stage or sense of personal domain

☽ Luna:
QBLH: #9, Yesod, Gimel
Tarot: The High Priestess, the Nines
Yi: Bagua Kan, water
Cycle: 27.32 days sidereal
Readiness, responsiveness, sensitivity to impression, nurture, the cumulative past, including the ancestors, inherited and accumulated functions and behavioral forms, the embodiment as soul, apperceptive mass and perceptual inertia. Nourishment, growth, assimilation, absorption. The ability to receive. Memory, imagination, dream as basis.
Powers: waiting, adapting, learning, letting go, surrender, fertility, gestation, sympathy, empathy, involvement,
Feelings: receptive, protean, impressed, impressionable, fertile, moody, vulnerable, mysterious, borrowed, welcome, present.
By sign: methods and manners of growing, absorbing, changing
By house: the sense of at-home-ness, the comfortable environment

Lunation Cycle: Interrelates the meanings of Sol and Luna's personality types, according to lunar phases. ±22-1/2 degrees
New: Projective
Crescent: Assertive
1st Q: Forceful
Gibbous: Questing
Full: Objective
Disseminating: Demonstrative
3rd Q: Institutive
Balsamic: Distributive

Mercury and Venus, the Personal Planets
    Thought and feeling, logos and eros, objective and subjective modes of perception, the nerves and the glands, the electrical and the chemical senses.

☿ Mercury
QBLH: #8, Hod. Beth
Tarot: The Magician, the Eights, Beth
Yi: Bagua Xun, the Gentle, Penetrating
Cycle: 88 days, always within 28 degrees of Sol
Mentation, the structure of perception and communication, the nervous system, information and networking, logistics, discernment, assessment, association, making connections. Cognitive tools, repertoire, skill, familiarity, repeatability. Nimbleness, quickness, dexterity, cleverness, craft, precision, mental agility, the trickster and illusion, creative problem solving.
Powers: versatility, vicarious trial and error, skills, models, analogy-making, language both in cognition and communication,
Feelings: Alert, exacting, intelligent, light, subtle, supple, informed, lively, ambivalent, fast, changeable, mobile, mutable.
By sign: mode of analysis, method of inquiry, mindset.
By house: practical fields of interest, studies, applied learning.

♀︎ Venus
QBLH: #7, Netzach, Daleth
Tarot: The Empress, the Sevens
Yi: Bagua Dui, the Joyous (departure from Crowley)
Cycle: 224 days, always within 48 degrees of Sol
Aesthetics, the creativity of perception, the beholder's eye, the endocrine system, chemical communication, attraction, desire, personal hydraulics, hedonics, hunger, appetite, satisfaction. Valences, the readiness to combine, valuation, motivated love, chosen responsiveness, acquisitiveness, interrelation, cohesion. Good attitude as a personal conquest, the ability to satisfy desire.
Powers: approval, consent, preference, valuation, taste, reciprocity, giving, celebration, tact, appreciation, communion.
Feelings: Eager, graceful, elated, joyous, sensual, passionate, permissive, erotic, tender, elegant, attractive, worthwhile.
By sign: energy of bewitchment, the feeling of feeling good.
By house: focus or locus of emotional value, where the heart is.

Dual Natures: The personal planets appear either behind or ahead of Sol at dawn and sunset. From this come dual natures and zodiac domains.
Mercury Epimetheus (Virgo) Hindsighted and conservative.
Mercury Prometheus (Gemini) Foresighted and progressive.
Venus Hesperus (Taurus) Sensible, response as a value.
Venus Lucifer (Libra) Emotions lead, response is a choice.

Mars and Jupiter, the Social Planets
    Dynamics and equilibrium, kinetics and proprioception, power and poise, thelema and agape, survival and dominion, muscle and mind, will and love.

♂︎ Mars
QBLH: #5, Gevurah, Pe
Tarot: The Tower, the Fives
Yi: Bagua Zhen, the Arousing
Cycle: 687 days, 57 days per sign
Thermodynamics, drive, kinetics, the muscular system, metabolic heat, manipulation and dominance, the warrior, force of character, assertiveness, competition and challenge, courage, control, gamesmanship. The battery or arsenal of survival techniques, learned and innate stratagems, ego as a backfire of the need for viability. The worth of survival.
Powers: as force effected with sense, dynamic imbalance, assertion, perseverance, stamina, effort, self-motivation.
Feelings: Bold, decisive, emphatic, charged, exuberant, piqued, potent, proud, robust, urgent, dynamic, vigorous.
By sign: favorite energy for pep and enthusiasm, get up and go.
By house: the playing field, the home turf and choice of weapons.

♃ Jupiter
QBLH: #4, Chesed, Kaph
Tarot: the Wheel of Fortune, the Fours
Yi: Bagua Gen, Stillness (departure from Crowley)
Cycle: 11.86 years
The higher power of grace, majesty and command, being on top, The bestowing virtue, equanimity, sitting pretty, balance, equilibrium, poise. Self as the sum of its extensions, projects and probes, expansion, diastolic awareness, exploration. Self defined from within in positive terms, confirmation, what we get away with. Internal cohesion, order among the pantheon of selves. Being motivation.
Powers: Stillness, optimization, trusting in life, goodwill, validation, bestowing honor, economy, extravagance.
Feelings: jovial, convivial, prosperous, fortunate, honored, paternal, generous, complete, solvent, adventuresome.
By sign: mode of incorporation, criteria deciding aptness.
By house: one's domain, purview, tenure, dais or soapbox.

Retrogradation is an apparent backward motion of planets through the zodiac from the geocentric point of view. Sol and Luna are never retrograde, Venus and Mars only rarely. Turns a portion of a planet's "output" self-consciously inward, like a governor on an engine, intensifying experience, diminishing efficacy unless used. Stationary planets are more reliably focused faculties.

Saturn and Pluto, the Planets of Finitude
Finality in life and the finality of death or greater reality. The limitations of selfhood and the preposterousness of the notion of self, Kronos and Soma, Time and Being.

♄ Saturn
QBLH: #3-4 Daath, Kether on its highest order (Disagrees with Golden Dawn), Tau
Tarot: The Universe, the Aces
Yi: Xiao Yang
Cycle: 29.5 years, 2.7 years per sign
Self as the difference or remainder, the universe minus the not-self, defined in terms of the other, in terms of what it is not. Learned limits of self-assertion, the skin and psychological integument, the edge of vulnerability, of self as most narrowly defined. Life at the boundary, touch and abrasion, pain as a sign of resistance. Restraint. Trials.
Powers: Authenticity, realism, consolidation of position, concentration on the immediate moment, knowing one's limits.
Feelings: heedful, scheming, rigorous, humbled, ballasted, disciplined, accountable, alone, abridged, grounded.
By sign: the quality of validity to which one reduces experience.
By house: the realm of the search for meaning, the challenge.
"As the last visible planet in the solar system, it is the symbol of limits, discipline, examinations and natural consequences. On a higher octave, Saturn is our representative of nature's immutable laws." (Payne-Towler)

Pluto
Losing Pluto as a "real" planet was both a loss and a gain to Astrology. Since we're not concerned with real planets here, we can at least present what it came to mean.
QBLH: #10 Kelipot (The mother letter Aleph alone has no location in this system)
Tarot: Not the Fool (given no astrological correspondence here), the Tens
Yi: Xiao Yin
Cycle: 248.4 years, 20.7 years per sign
Self as nothing when thinking itself apart, force majeure, universal momentum or inertia, the resistance to the will. Mass and critical mass, violence due to constriction. The senselessness of it all. Cultural attempts at immortality, institutions, legacies, dynasties, religions, and self's means of coping with humanity's, submission or rebellion.
Powers: Refocalization, rethinking identity, building mass, elimination of the old, often painfully, personal evolution.
Feelings: Inadequate, powerless, swept along, mortal, small, responsible, anonymous, alienated, driven, wasted, unused.
By sign: a generation's identity, cultural-political movement.
By house: escape route to sanctuary or effective involvement.

Satan and the Saturn Return
Finitude, being a distasteful notion to the ego, tends to acquire subtle and bizarre connotations. But these are the reflections of man's ego on the face of the abyss, no reflection on the abyss itself. Limits can be viewed positively instead, as places to begin on terra firma, and cheerfully so. The Saturn return at age 29 brings new chances to do this.

Uranus and Neptune, the Planets Beyond
Nexus and nebula, cosmos and chaos, the path of power and the field of options, the sorcerer and the mystic, convergent and divergent awareness.

♅ Uranus
QBLH: #2, Chokmah, Wisdom (Disagrees with Golden Dawn and Crowley), Shin
Tarot: Judgement, the Twos (Disagrees with Everybody)
Yi: Bagua Qian, Heaven
Cycle: 84.02 years, 7 years per sign
Self as a path through cosmos, the intelligible universe, only a place where powers meet for a time, a knot, network, or nexus. The fulcrum of radical change, choice-point sensitivity, destiny, large scale transformation from an action in the right place and time. Suddenness or discontinuity in life a function of the distance of the self from its path of power, its lack of attunement.
Powers: metalevels, creativity, dynamic reorganization of the world view, remodeling deep structure, liberty, hazard.
Feelings: Brisk, radical, primal, unique, willful, explosive, strategic, free, masterful, executive, resolved, electric.
By sign: the magick current, the energy of one's real gifts.
By house: the field through which one's path of power runs.

♆ Neptune
QBLH: #3, Binah, Understanding (Disagrees with Golden Dawn and Crowley), Mem
Tarot: The Hanged Man, the Threes
Yi: Bagua Kun, Accepting
Cycle: 164.8 years, 13.7 years per sign
Self a s a wake through chaos, the mysterious universe, a place where impressions are left, writ in water. One's reference feeling within greater environments, life, region, world. Processes of universalization, dissolution, embrace. The edge of measurability, the doors of perception, unification. Failure of definition and fact. Ocean and Gaia in the blood. Not so much the Neptune who was pissed off so much of the time.
Powers: belief, unbelief, hallucination, hypnotics, dreaming, mystic sensitivity, sense of undercurrents, direct experience.
Feelings: affiliated, enchanted, compassionate, imaginative, formless, elusive, tractable, prophetic, vague, tentative.
By sign: the zeitgeist, spirit of the times, tap to humanity.
By house: fertile mystic environment, career as a tributary.

The Slow-Moving Planets.
The outer or collective planets, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, stay in the same sign for years. These planets-in-signs indicate waves of age groups or generations. Purely personal relevance is found in house placement. By sign describes self only as a factor in greater worlds beyond selfhood and anthropomorphism. Mankind as a diachronic vector.

Dragon's Head and Pars Fortuna
Mathematically derived entities, treated interpretively as planets but void of innate capability or power. Places in the person to build character or a new faculty.

☊ Dragon's Head, Caput Draconis, the Moon's North Node
Tarot: The Four Princesses, by Element
This is the point in the Zodiac where Luna's orbit, seen as a continuous locus, crosses the ecliptic, or Sol's "orbit" moving North. Luna's orbit remains within 5 degrees 17 minutes of Sol's, meaning Luna is higher in the sky in the winter and lower in the summer. Called variously "the symbolic mouth of the self" point of intake and integration," and "karmic significance of one's destiny in life," the dragon's head denotes the character (by sign) and the field (by house) of lessons to be learned, a new faculty to be developed, a promising project in personal psychology - an alternative to purely innate talent. An area of special freedom to act or create.

Pars Fortuna, the Part of Fortune, the First Arabian Part.
This is a point in the Zodiac bearing the same angular relationship to the Ascendant as Luna bears to Sol in the natal horoscope, or the lunation cycle projected through the Ascendant. The Part of Fortune denotes a self-image or identity particularly pleasing to the point of view. A point of deep personal interest, a magnetic attraction to a promise of well being, fertile ground for growth and the expression of a persona, a prime candidate for invocation and affirmation. An ideal state, lady's luck, baited hook. opportunity's knock, our own sword in the stone, a better mousetrap. The call of success, access to wherewithal.

Transits.
The planets in the present sky, as placed within the zodiac, are said to have an effect on the planets in the natal horoscope when they fall within a specified number of degrees of an Aspect, especially a conjunction or opposition. The present-day sky is superimposed over the natal chart or paragraph with the same relationship of signs to houses. The transiting or present-sky planet is said to present objective aspects or experiences, according to its nature, to the subjectivity of the natal planet. The house of the transiting planet shows where to look for the influence, its sign shows the form of energy the influence will come in, its aspects show which of the faculties it will speak to. The two best-known transits are transiting Saturn conjunct natal Saturn (Saturn Returns at roughly 29.5 and 59 years of age) and transiting Uranus opposite natal Uranus (Midlife Crisis at roughly 42 years of age).

Signs of the Zodiac

The ecliptic is a circle drawn across the sky representing the apparent path of Sol through the year. This is coplanar with Earth's orbit. The Zodiac is a group of twelve constellations lying within a band of sky centered on the ecliptic, through which Luna and the Planets appear to pass.

The Signs of Spring.
Vernal Equinox 0 degrees Aries. Mid-Spring, Beltane, 15 degrees Taurus, Kerub of the Bull

Aries, the Ram, Cardinal Fire,
Patron: Mars
QBLH:: He
Tarot: The Emperor, the King of Wands (These all disagree with the Golden Dawn and Crowley, who use a system of Decans and their planetary rulers. The system here relates the Kings, Queens, and Princesses to the qualities of Cardinal, Mutable, and Fixed, respectively, while the Princesses are represented by the North Node's Element)
YI: Gua 55, Abundance
Images: spring thunder, the seed germinating, quickening.
The primal spark, burning to exist, prime directive of beings, feedforward movement, still needing to develop both sense and structure. The spirit of enterprise, initiative, vim and vigor, drive, impetus, adventure, courage, spiritedness, willfulness.
Projective, pioneering, assertive, aggressive, creative. Executive, expeditious, bold, urgent, ambitious, fierce, rash, blunt, headstrong, impatient, selfish, impulsive. Tunnel vision for immediate aims, problems, tasks at hand.

Taurus, the Bull, Fixed Earth
Patron: Venus Hesperus
QBLH: Vav
Tarot: The Hierophant, Prince of Pentacles
YI: Xiang Wood
Images: the ploughed field, a greening earth, budding life
The processes of consolidation and substantiation, work and worth, methodical attention to growth, perseverance. The authentic beauty of substance, suchness, uncut gems, uncarved wood. Work as its own reward, concrete values.
Patient, steady, enduring, determined, diligent, industrious, reliable, consistent, solid, conservative, reasonable, grounded, sensible, practical, tangible, palpable, productive.
Acquisitiveness, incorporation, integration of the identity.

Gemini, the Twins, Mutable Air
Patron: Mercury Epimetheus
QBLH: Zain
Tarot: The Lovers, Queen of Swords
YI: Gua 59, Huan
Images: life in full flourish, diversification, wind in the grass, pollination
Branching out, exploration, perceptual mobility, curiosity, the broadening of horizons and relationships, social involvement. Appetite for experience, access and accessibility, familiarity. Intelligence, association, patternment, encoding. learning, education.
Breezy, ubiquitous, volatile, restless, superficial, inquisitive, lively, expressive, animated, eager, unstable, unpredictable, subtle, crafty, witty, communicative, versatile, sharp, quick, clever.
Vicariousness, second-handedness, second nature, possibility.

The Signs of Summer.
Summer Solstice 0 degrees Cancer. Mid-Summer, Lughnasadh, 15 degrees Leo, Kerub of the Lion

Cancer, the Crab, Cardinal Water
Patron: Luna
QBLH: Cheth or Het
Tarot: The Chariot, King of Cups
YI: 49, Ge, Seasonal Change
Images: intense light and shade, protective coverings, molting
Sensitivity and its limits, the readiness to feel, security, expanding the feelings as much as bruises and armor allow. Shelter, home and habitat, comfort, retreat, self-enclosure. Cohesion, attachment, domestication, agreeableness. Ready, resourceful, consenting, willing, game, sincere.
Fertile, protective, nurturing, caring, filial, amorous, receptive, touched, tender, cautious, giving, sharing.
Letting go, intimacy, closeness, nearness, connectedness.

Leo, the Lion, Fixed Fire
Patron: Sol
QBLH: Teth
Tarot: Strength, Prince of Wands
YI: Xiang Fire
Images: the relentless sun, abundant energy, sport and play. Expression, exteriorization, release from self-containment. the internal pressure to be more in order to burn more or give more. Satiety or surplus as a motive force or a calm of strength. Assurance, authority, doubtlessness, righteousness, confidence.
Upbeat, optimal, dramatic, lusty, proud, outgoing, sporting, sunny, frank, warm, bright, suffused, enflamed, exuberant, dynamic, pro-creative, excited, peremptory, enthusiastic, sure.
Excessiveness, glut, immodesty, abandon, exaggeration.

Virgo, the Virgin, Mutable Earth
Patron: Mercury Epimetheus
QBLH: Yod
Tarot: The Hermit, Queen of Pentacles
YI: Gua 04, Meng, Inexperience
Images: The bountiful crop in progress, management, weeding. The work of self- acceptance and self-acceptability, the concern for clear identity and identification, diligence, qualification, standards, cutting back on options, pruning, analyzing, criticizing, assimilation, digestion, fitness, fitting in, aptness, specificity.
Incisive, keen, exacting, choosy, prescriptive, demanding, sparing, discrete, discreet, discriminating, meticulous, skillful, adroit, adept, deft, consistent, sparing, economic.
Admission of qualified experience, high quality eros and interaction.

The Signs of Autumn.
Autumn Equinox 0 degrees Libra, Mid-Autumn, Hallowmas, Samhain. 15 degrees Scorpio, Kerub of the Water Dragon.

Libra, the Scales, Cardinal Air
Patron: Venus
QBLH: Lamed
Tarot: Justice or Adjustment, King of Swords
YI: Gua 37, the Family
Images: harvest readiness, autumn's approach, weighing the season
Objectification of the dyad, recognition of a significant other, balance and adjustment, the economics of interaction, tact, appraisal, evaluation, attunement, mediation, equilibrium. Diplomatic strategies, the mechanics of harmony and perspective.
Accommodating, conciliatory, ambiguous, ambivalent, distant, objective, mental, non-committal, mental, circumspect, artful, politic, judicious, liberal, libertarian, reciprocal.
Mental processes serving the need to form alliances with the other.

Scorpio, the Scorpion, Fixed Water
Patron: Mars
QBLH: Nun
Tarot: Death, Prince of Cups
YI: Xiang 0, Water
Images: harvest, stockpiling, close of season, thanksgiving
Libidinal worlds, the sub-surface self, undercurrents, hidden communities of subliminal motives. Resources for survival. Import and the emotional means for its amplification, , hypnosis. Facing the end and beyond, raging against the dying of the light, using death as advisor.
Private, personal, inviolate, self-absorbed, cryptic, secret, important, profound, intense, passionate, driven, affective, combative, retaliatory, defensive, visceral, intoxicated.
Emotional ability as potential energy, stress, the energy of steam.

Sagittarius, the Centaur, Mutable Fire
Patron: Jupiter
QBLH: Samekh
Tarot: Temperance, Queen of Wands
Yi: Gua 40, Deliverance
Images: the last thunder and rainbow, migration, transcendence
Metamorphic process, transformation, going beyond the known, exploration, discovery, panorama, overview, cultural hybrids, , mastery, command, delegation, sublimation, creative vision, positivity, postulation, experimentation, speculation, research.
Transient, transitive, moving, colorful, fun, free, idealistic, ranging, expansive, diverse, exposed, broad minded, discursive, learned, proven, experienced, transported, self-surpassing.
Aim and release, the dynamics of delivery, realizing the vision.

The Signs of Winter.
Winter Solstice 0 degrees Capricorn, Mid-Winter, Imbolc. 15 degrees Aquarius, Kerub of the Eagle.

Capricorn, the Goat, Cardinal Earth
Patron: Saturn
QBLH: Ayin
Tarot: The Devil, King of Pentacles
YI: Gua 22, Adornment
Images: the worst of the darkness, concentration of environment, concern or reverence for due regard, clarification of interface, knowing where one stands, positions, givens, local activity, intensification of contrast, acceptance of scale, heedfulness. Sure-footedness, nearsightedness and the exaltation permitted by surety.
Definitive, dogmatic, crystalline, localized, present, finite, tried, tested, unimpeachable, founded, grounded, proficient, vigilant, focused, serious, ambitious, persistent, challenged.
Instrumentality, means, utility, solid ground, proven perspective.

Aquarius, the Water Bearer, Fixed Air
Patron: Saturn
QBLH: Tzaddi
Tarot: The Star, Prince of Swords
YI: Xiang 1, Metal
Images: the crystalline winter sky, resolution, stark thought, thought as a vessel, the fixed idea as tool or means, science, navigation, references, mindset as a grappling hook, expectations, visualizing the goal, the entertainment of thought, hopes and fears, social and natural order and organization, structures, objectives.
Imaginative, eidetic, visionary, self-destined, consecrative, metaformative, creative, inventive, synergetic, progressive, puzzled, surprised, off-guard, over-expectant, abstracted.
Humanity as an idea needing animation, consensus, cooperation.

Pisces, the Fishes, Mutable Water
Patron: Jupiter
QBLH: Qof
Tarot: The Moon, Queen of Cups
YI: Gua 47, Exhaustion
Images: the thaw, wet seeds, first notice of spring, relief, melt, disassembly, psyche, the uncertainty principle, experience for its own sake, fluid, capable of any form, The vastness of the world made even less determinate by the powers of feeling, empathy, belief, credulity, reflection, reverie.
Impressionable, accepting, fused, depolarized, accessible, vague, confused, dreamy, entranced, nebulous, buoyant, attuned, imprinted, misguided, gullible, appreciative, open, drawn.
Redemption of psyche from ocean, liquid self-constitution, wave form.

Dimensions of the Signs
Sign meanings are derived from several sources; a) accretion of myth and fable, b) seasonal association and implication, c) quality, whether a sign is cardinal, fixed or mutable (tense), d) element, whether a sign is fire, earth, air or water (gender), e) each sign must be a unique alloy of quality and element, f) accumulation of key-word associations, g) planetary patronage or rulership, and h) natural houses, as the notion that Aries is most at home in the first house, etc. All of these are fair game in accumulating and extrapolation meanings for the signs. Original sign rulership predates the discovery of the outer planets and has an order to it. The rotation of the natural wheel by 30 degrees is due to the antiquity of this system and the effects of precession.

Precession of the Equinox or the Great Year
    Our Gaia's axis of rotation is 23 degrees 28 minutes from perpendicular to the orbital plane. From this, and not distance from Sol, we get our seasons. This axis wobbles like a slowing top, Relative to the stars (sidereal) the tips of this axis describe a full circle once every 25,868 years. Thus the seasons and the stars, including the zodiac, have an ever-changing relationship, while assignments of points in the seasons, such as the vernal equinox, remain fixed in Western astrology. The Zodiac was affixed to the seasons by the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicaea at some time close to 2150 BCE (even though he was the first to discover the problem of motion). Consequently, Western astrology's zodiac slips backwards from agreement with its original constellations at a rate of one sign every 2155.67 years (one degree every 71.86 years). Thus the common forms of astrology do not refer to the original constellations or the stars any more. Not to be daunted or embarrassed by this, astrologers claim that the movement of the vernal equinox, or 0 degrees Aries, through the more scientific astronomer's zodiac, speaks to us humans of our Ages. If we just randomly assigned Hipparchus' act to 150 BCE, we would have the following approximate dates for these ages. There is no agreement, even in serious astronomical circles, of the actual dates, and even learned opinions can vary by centuries. The influence of each age begins to be felt most seriously three degrees ahead of the dates below:
Cancer: 8780-6615 BCE, end of last ice age, settlement, shelter, clothing, early farming, fences
Gemini: 6615-4460 BCE, widespread migration, abstract symbolism, writing and communication, mythology, craftsmen
Taurus: 4460-2305 BCE, city-states formed around agriculture, social strata, class, dynasty, building, birth of law and order
Aries: 2305-150 BCE, male role in procreation learned, god becomes male, the lawgiver deified, conquest, empire, history
Pisces: 150 BCE - 2005 CE, philosophy and religion, belief, proselytizing, worship, altruism, sacrifice, conviction
Aquarius: 2005- 4160 CE, science and social experiment, non-linear growth, radical change, liberty and responsibility, accountability

The Houses

The First Quadrant, Late Night, Pre-dawn
The emergence of the individual identity, the subjective awareness of self

1st House: natural sign and planet - Aries and Mars
When Sol is here it's just before dawn
Tarot: The Emperor
Yi: Gua 55, Abundance
Selfhood and temperament, the assembly of the person, early formative experience, preparation, both nature and nurture. Appearance, disposition, carriage, posture, manner, poise, constitution, composure, integrity, singleness, individuality. Health as it affects drive, viability, concentration on need, intention, intentness, volition, willfulness, purpose, tenacity. Coherence and persistence of identity, self-structure. Fundamental aloneness, personal responsibility, self-reliance. Birthright, precocity, early prioritization, spiritedness, self-cultivation, self-definition, self-assumption, individual self-expression, self-discovery. personality.

2nd House: natural sign and planet - Taurus and Venus Hesperus
When Sol is here it's time for farmers to rise
Tarot: The Hierophant or High Priest
Yi: Xiang 1, Wood
Wealth and valuation, the satisfaction of fundamental needs, roots and anchoring, concentration, substantiation, stabilization, productive uses of time and energy, sustenance and investment, acquired resources, earning power, solvency, wherewithal, securing the self, foundations, groundedness, meeting of needs. Goods, possessions, property, means and tools, self-worth, self-appraisal, self-assessment, self-inventory. Invested work calling for good choice of goals and values. Deriving the measure of worth, revaluation of value, appreciation. Liberty due to wealth and self-worth, budgeting and management, financial, material possessions and attachments.

3rd House: natural sign and planet - Gemini and Mercury Prometheus
When Sol is here it's after midnight
Tarot: The Lovers
Yi: Gua 59, Huan, Scattering
Education and familiarity, investigation of the environment. The second nature, mentality, inquiry, learning, networking. Exploratory behavior and growth, circulation and savvy. Familiar relationships, siblings, peers, shared environs. Communication, consensual agreements to share perceptions. Communicability, relatability to the environment, co-respondence. Exposure, contacts, access to information, vicarious experience. Skill, craft, hands-on experience, training, practice, knowledge, breadth within local contexts, diversification, reconnaissance. Mindset, orientation to novelty, attention, opening channels, communication, siblings, routine adaptation.

The Second Quadrant, Early-Night
The exteriorization of individual identity, the subjective awareness of not-self.

4th House: natural sign and planet - Cancer and Luna
When Sol is here it's before midnight
Tarot: The Chariot
Yi: Gua 49, Ge, Seasonal Change
Home and security, defining the limits of environment. The creation of worlds permitting feeling without damage. Self-importance relative to smaller worlds and limited activity. Parental influence, protection, nurture, intimacy, vulnerability, belonging. Accumulated environment, things brought home and arranged. Retirement, old age and pension, memories, recourse to pasts. Privacy, sanctuary, asylum, refuge, harbor, fortification. Home base attitudes, indwelling the vehicle, comfort in motion. Shelter, settlement, habitat. Playpens, fence and nations. Chosen influences, limited commitments, pruning and weeding. inner foundation, home, nurturing parent.

5th House: natural sign and planet: Leo and Sol
When Sol is here it's mid-evening
Tarot: Strength
Yi: Xiang 3, Fire
Vitality and expressiveness, the celebration of identity, creation and procreation, the license of the overabundant. Exuberance, fun, enthusiasm, play, optimizing, liveliness, sport and sportingness, competition, challenge, daring. Speculation, risk, hazard, gambling, experimentation, adventure, romance, entertainment, drama, showmanship. Pride, assurance, confidence, self-possession, authority. Children and art, letting go, granting creation life of its own. Offspring and spinoffs, projection, extension, progeny. Outwardness, outgoingness, extroversion, giving, gain, love, play, children, creativity,

6th House: natural sign and planet: Virgo and Mercury Epimetheus
When Sol is here it's after sunset
Tarot: The Hermit
Yi: Gua 04, Meng, Inexperience
Usefulness and aptitude, exploring and filling the niche. Employment, occupation, service, teamwork, coordination. Health, healing, hygiene, nutrition, diet, assimilation. Serviceability, able-ness, adequacy, competence, efficacy. Fitness, aptness, consonance, functioning parts of a whole. Relevance, germaneness, pertinence, meetness, congruity. Worthiness, deservingness, qualification, entitlement, due. Commitment, dedication, work, contribution, participation. Self-care, self-improvement, self-critique, to the best within us. More with less, cutting down options, maximization of results of effort.
health, work, service, servants.

The Third Quadrant, Afternoon
The emergence of social identity, the subjective awareness of not-self

7th House: natural sign and planet - Libra and Venus Lucifer
When Sol is here it's before sunset
Tarot: Justice
Yi: Gua 37, Jia Ren, Family Menbers
Encounter and relationship, recognizing the significant other. Marriage, partnership, face-to face encounter, eye-to eye exchange. Disagreement, open antagonism, debate, contraposition. Interpersonality, dyadics, interplay of disparate perspectives. Contract, covenant, consent, rules for ad hoc agreements. Trust, pledge, good faith. Honesty, candor, frankness, openness. The companion and dominance agreements, interfacing of liberties. Interdependence, complementation, win/lose and win/win games. Coalition of talents and perspectives, consensus, hybrid vigor. Litigation and arbitration, counseling, concession, compromise. Marriage, partnership, conflicts.

8th House: natural sign and planet - Scorpio and Mars
When Sol is here it's mid-afternoon
Tarot: Death
Yi: Xiang 0, Water
Resource and resourcefulness, laying claim to the possible. Capitalization, insurance, taxation, currency, joint finance. Legacy, inheritance, heritage, cumulative social resources. Deep drives and power sources, libido, eros, self-sanction. Regenerative abilities, recovery, adaptability, resilience. Reserves and reservoirs, talent pools, liquidity, liquid assets. Fluidity of perspective, relativity, expedience, self-hypnosis. Inherentness, latent faculties, emotional investments and charge. Mines, source-tapping behavior, plenums, potential wealth. Amplification of import and value, creation of meaning. Death, inheritance resurrection, the occult.

9th House: natural sign and planet - Sagittarius and Jupiter
When Sol is here it's early afternoon
Tarot: Temperance or Art
Yi: Gua 40, Deliverance
Extrapolation and reaching, the quest beyond the known. Horizons, the big picture, abstractions, distancing, breadth. Cross-cultural journeys, vacations, sabbatical leave. Exposure, unfamiliarity, open-mindedness, understanding. The search for that which survives change, for immortality. Release, transcendence, going beyond, the human potential. Philosophy, sociology, anthropology, the common ground. Morality and conscience. Human rights and their abdication. Dreams and visions (not 12th house kind). Decrees and proclamations, the magnum opus. Reexamination, reorganization, reformulation, redemption. Philosophy, religion, long journeys.

The Fourth Quadrant, Morning
The exteriorization of the social identity, the objective awareness of self.

10th House: natural sign and planet - Capricorn and Saturn
When Sol is here it's late morning
Tarot: The Devil
Yi: Gua 22, Adornment
Vocation and conquest, the getting and keeping of position. Profession, career, expertise, forte, mastery, realization. Prominence, public image, status, reputation, recognition. Attainment, achievement, outstandingness, distinction. Role models, parental and authority figures, superiors. Relation to extant powers, due appraisal, thoroughness. Ambition, challenge, defiance, heroics, planning, climbing. Exemplary behavior, honor, credit, responsibility, accountability. Realism, authenticity, tough judgment of strength and weakness. Self-appraisal, self-justification, following or setting standards. Honor,
profession, social status.

11th House: natural sign and planet - Aquarius and Saturn
When Sol is here it's mid-morning
Tarot: The Star
Yi: Xiang 1, Metal
Goals and expectations, the future tense of lifestyle. Social coalition and organization around shared objectives, culture. Friends and selection of friends, common interests, camaraderie. Alliance, coalition, association, agency, ad hoc instrumentality. Visualizing the ends of effort, implementing the vision. Resolution and resolve, programs, targets, prognostication. The cause célèbre, rallying point, platform, manifesto. Adopted externals, formula, curriculum, law, mythos and mores. Group pressures, consensus, conformity, socialization. Leadership, vanguard, revolutionary congress, utopiation.
Friends, specialized self-expression, hopes.

12th House: natural sign and planet - Pisces and Jupiter
When Sol is here it's after dawn
Tarot: The Moon
Yi: Gua 47, Exhaustion
Finitude and survival, life in spite of inertia and entropy. The unknown, immensity, the overwhelming, obscurity, complexity. Ripe destiny and self-undoing, karma, the final solution. Working with the webs, as spider or fly, or work without a net. Personal solutions, belief, delusion, seclusion, sacrifice. Social solutions, institutions, asylums, reformatories. Recourse to the subliminal, the mysterious, the undercurrent. Anonymity, uncertainty, inadequacy, the battered self. Survival of the liquid, feeling one's way, the path with heart. The chaos of compost and mulch, existence as nutrient-rich. Karma, confinement, psychic ability, secrets.

The Houses locate the planets and signs in the sky at a specific moment in time. usually at the moment of birth (natal chart). This wheel, with its four cardinal points and twelve segments, is intended to be a section of the sky above and below the horizon, as seen facing south, so that the far left is the eastern horizon, cut through the plane of Sol's apparent orbit around Gaia. To see this in the sky, face south and tilt the top of the chart forward to make the plane align with Sol's orbit (called the Ecliptic). Many cultures in the ancient world drew their maps with a southern orientation, since that is where the Sun spent its days. The far left, towards which Gaia is turning, is on the eastern horizon, where the stars and planets appear to be rising or ascending. The top point is where Sol would be around noon. The far right, at sunset. The bottom most point, at midnight. Many different house systems are used to account for problems with latitude, the shortened winter sky and the lengthened summer sky, but these do not affect point and house meanings.
    Angular Houses (#s 1,4,7 &10), like cardinal signs, are areas of life typified by self-originated activity and the direct feedback which is its consequence.
    Succedent Houses (#2,5,8 &11), like fixed signs, are areas of life typified by exercise of the energies which self is able to generate and command.
    Cadent Houses (#3,6,9 &12), like mutable signs, are areas of life typified by learning and adaptive behavior, the change undergone to assimilate context.

The Quadrants establish a scale-of-four matrix grid based on the permutations of two sets of polarities:
a) the Southern or objective hemisphere, above the horizon
b) the Northern or subjective hemisphere, below the horizon
c) the Eastern or Ascending hemisphere, the world of self
d) the Western or Descending hemisphere, the world of other

The Horizontal Axis polarizes East and West, self and other, identity and adaptation, individuation and reintegration.

The Ascendant or Rising Sign
Tarot: Kings (Cardinal), Queens (Mutable), Princes (Fixed)
(East) points to signs and planets emerging on the Eastern horizon. By sign this indicates the individual's energy of orientation, the particular quality of experience (one of twelve) to which one looks for meaning. This point is self's earliest and most enduring point of view and root of identity. Rising planets will be fundamental to self-image.

The Descendant
(West) points to descending signs and planets. By sign this indicates the limits of self, with its favorite point of view, pointing to the ascendant's opposite, complement and significant other in the wheel. It is that energy by which one establishes relationships with other, energy sought in other, precious or infuriating feedback. Descending planets are prone to involvement and giving, codependency and service.

The Vertical Axis polarizes South and North, the objective and the subjective, the manifest and preparatory, output and input.

The Midheaven
Medium Coeli or MC (South Up) points to signs and planets directly overhead. By sign this indicates the energy with which one values and fulfills objectives, the energy admired in one's avatars and heroes, and by emulation, the face one would show to the world. This is the outer character of the individual and acknowledged self. Planets at the midheaven openly proclaim their own natures.

The Nadir
Imum Coeli or IC (North Down) points to signs and planets behind ones heels and on the far side of the world. By sign this poinnts to the quality of energy in which self is rooted or grounded, through which one seeks nearness and relevance, nourishment for personality and character, solace and security from the vastness of it all. Planets at the Nadir are private fountains in inner gardens.

The Aspects
    Aspects are described as certain degrees of angular relationship between planets (or between planets and constructs and points) within the 360 degrees of the zodiac. Orbs are the range of effectiveness of the aspect, perceived as bell curves of intensity centered on the exact degree by which the aspect is named. The orbs vary from astrologer to astrologer. Those below, given in degrees, are considered tight:
                          Lights        Planets    Constructs
Pure Aspects          ±8             ±6           ±4
Major Aspects        ±6            ±4            ±2
Minor Aspects        ±3            ±2            ±1

The Pure Aspects derive their meaning without recourse to number or artifice beyond the simple notion of polarity or syzygy.

☌ Conjunction: 0 degrees ±orb. Planets will share the same sign and house or be significantly close (on the cusp) to doing so. Thus they are said to co-operate or reinforce each other, or intensify each other. Although they do not fuse the talents represented by each, it may be difficult to distinguish between them. Other key words: prominence, facilitation. Three planets conjunct, or more loosely, three planets sharing the same sign and house, is called a Stellium, a bright spot.

☍ Opposition: 180 degrees ± orb. Planets will occupy opposite signs and houses, thus sharing the same polarity and triplicity. This indicates a fission between the subjects, an extreme internal dichotomy, a polarization tending to heightened self-consciousness and mutual objectification by the subjects. Tension and contrast lead to attention. Enmity is not the rule here. An opposition divided by a planet forming squares between poles is a T-Square. The key to this is tension that should look to the opposite midpoint for release.

P Parallel: The equatorial is an extended plane through Gaia's equator. Planets appear to move south or north of this plane (latitude) with the season., most notably Sol from winter to summer. When two planets are within one degree of each other in latitude (especially both south or both north in conjunction, or opposite north to south in opposition) they are said to be in parallel. These are the conditions for an eclipse. Redoubling the intensity of a pure aspect, even fusion, is the result.

The Major Aspects derive their meanings from the numeral elements in the zodiac, specifically, sixes, fours and threes.

Sextile: 60 degrees ± orb. Planets will share the same polarity. This indicates an opportunity to develop a close working relationship between subjects, but in a way requiring effort, coordination, practice, or other learning experience. Analogous to the reciprocal granting of easements or rights. Adjacent sextiles joined by a trine minimize this effort.

□ Square: 90 degrees ± orb. Planets will share the same triplicity, but less compatible polarity and sign. Subjects operate at cross-purposes, inhibiting, checking, and balancing each others activities. This inherent conflict or rivalry can mean schism, crisis and stress, or concentrated motivation. Four combined squares is a Grand Square, with a key phrase being "make or break."

△ Trine: 120 degrees ± orb. Planets will share the same element or quadruplicity. This is the most harmonious of the aspects. Subjects tend to enable each other. Solutions to mutual challenges come with little work or effort, and herein is the principle problem of trines: talent can be taken for granted and never developed with effort. Three joined Trines is a Grand Trine, with a key phrase: remembrance of gifts.

The Minor Aspects
These aspects derive their meanings purely from number without reference to the internal dimensions of the zodiac.

Semi-sextile: 30 degrees ± orb. One twelfth of the circle. Sequential proximity gives subjects an older-younger sibling relationship. and a sense of growth or cumulative challenge. Key: accessibility.

Semi-square: 45 degrees ± orb. One eighth of a circle, half a season out of step, subjects can prod, provoke and irritate each other, demanding broad work on system logistics. Key: friction.

Sesqui-quadrate: 135 degrees ± orb. Three-eighths of a circle, an objectified version of the semi-square, wherein friction breaks into rivalry, agitation and clumsy coordination. Key: discipline.

Inconjunct or Quincunx: 150 degrees ± orb. Five-twelfths of a circle. An objectified version of the semi-sextile, but subjects are "worlds apart" begging for broader notions of self. Key: surprise.

⬠ Quintile: 72 degrees ± orb. One fifth of a circle. Subjects relate or interface with dynamic energy but without common interest. This is like heat to be harnessed by a third device or outlet. Key: energy.

S Septile: 51 degrees 26 minutes ± orb. One seventh of a circle. Subjects form unpredictable partnerships with non-rational results ranging from magical abilities to deviant behavior. Key: creativity.

Appendix One:

Notes on Relationships to the Hebrew Kabbalah and the West's Qabalah

The original Trees of Life, 9th Cent CE China (Chen Tuan) and 10th (Zhou Dunyi)

1516, the first known graphic illustration of the Tree of Life appears on the cover of Paul Ricci's translation of Joseph Gikatilla’s Gates of Light, around the beginning of the Safed school of Kabbalah.

Isaac Luria (1534-1572), the Ari, published a graphic version of the Tree of Life. Ari's Tree of Life had paths that differed from Kircher’s, published later. Luria revived Gnostic imagery in Kabbalistic terms. Note that the Mother, Double, and Simple Letters, or the Scales of 3, 7, and 12, as presented in the 6th Century CE (?) Sepher Yetzirah are significant in this version. This original system is adopted here, while the Kircher system, adopted by the Western Qabalists, is abandoned here.

Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), per Moshe Idel, makes a linear assignment of letters to paths on the Tree of Life, in accord with a known, if minor, Jewish tradition, but differing from that of the Ari and the Safed school of Kabbalah. Kircher published a depiction of the Tree of Life for the Europeans in 1652, based upon a 1625 version by Philippe d'Aquin. The assignment of the alphabet to the Tree here assumes that the order of letters is a meaningful sequence rather than an arbitrary set of nominal numbers. This system is abandoned here for this reason.

This Hexagram formula is the source of the Golden Dawn's and Crowley's Planetary assignments to the Sephiroth of the Tree. Things later went awry with the discovery of the outer planets, and they were never fit properly onto the top three Sephiroth and Daath. This correction is made in the texts above.