Multi-Dimensional Transits
by Dennis Elwell
Marduk with his dragon
Source: Franz Heinrich Weißbach, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
According to a Babylonian myth Marduk (Jupiter) created the Great Dragon, putting its head into the Moon's ascending node, and its tail into the descending node, making it carry six of the zodiacal constellations on its back and six under its belly... This implies that the Babylonians considered that the positions of the planets in the Draconic 'zodiac' (i.e. distances from the node) were of consequence.
- Zodiacs Old and New, Cyril Fagan (Anscombe, London 1951)
I have decided to talk mainly about transits because I have long been disillusioned with some of the effects that transits are supposed to produce. You see it seems that we in astrology are not exacting enough from our science. If we say for instance that the Sun rules the father, and that Saturn has a connection with misfortune when one's father becomes ill one would expect-if our pretensions be anything at all- that there is going to be some contact of the Sun with Saturn, or maybe Neptune; certainly one would expect some afflictions to the Sun. In practice, we don t always find this... and I think we have to ask whether we can refine our techniques to get something more nearly approaching perfect results.
Antiscions
It seems to me that we don't really cast the net wide enough. For example, how many of us use transits in Declination?... and how many of us use the antiscion degrees? These are absolutely indispensable! I shall explain very briefly for the benefit of those who don't know what these antiscion degrees are; they are related to the parallels of declination, everything being referenced to the EcIiptic, to the declination of the Sun. If you have, say, Saturn in, 15° Capricorn, the antiscion degree (which is as it were the reflection of Saturnʹs position) will be 15° Sagittarius... or in other words, exactly the same distance on the other side of the Cancer-Capricorn axis. You can actually work this out very simply; the antiscions of Capricorn will be in Sagittarius, those of Aquarius will be in Scorpio, those of Pisces in Libra, of Aries in Virgo, of Taurus in Leo, of Gemini in Cancer - because these are the opposite signs of the 0° Cancer-Capricorn axis; and these are degrees occupying the same parallel of declination. It therefore happens that if you have your birth Sun in 25° Scorpio (the antiscion degree of that being 5° Aquarius) any transits in 5° Aquarius will affect your Sun. So that's another arrow in the quiver for anybody who wants to use transits effectively. What I am saying is that a multidimensional approach to transits will fill the gaps a little, and also explain why some transits don't work while others suddenly burst into life very strongly. The parallels of declination are an example of one dimension reinforcing another. It is possible to have a planet in transit over one point in your horoscope, and for the same planet to be in parallel declination to some other part of your horoscope, so that the effect is being carried through, two-dimensionally, as it were. As a general rule when you get this overlapping of dimensions the effect will be proportionately stronger, and when you don't, the transits fail to work.
The Draconitic or Nodal Chart
But transits may be formed in other dimensions yet to be discovered; our Tropical zodiac traditionally begins at the vernal point, but it may be that other starting-points are valid. I sometimes wonder - and I know that those who are involved in modern astrological research would agree with me - if we had not been brought up on a zodiac which begins at the vernal point, whether we should ever have discovered it. Perhaps we should have found some quite different starting-point? Now, one possibility is a zodiac that begins from the Moon's North Node. This is the Dragon's Head (that well-known pub!). You will see that this discussion begins with a quote from Cyril Fagan, who was an expert in astronomical antiquities, and founding father of the western school of Sidereal Astrology. He says that according to Babylonian myth the Great Dragon was created to carry six of the constellations on its back and six under its belly. He concludes from this that the Babylonians considered the positions of the planets in the Draconian Zodiac, i.e. with their distances measured from the Nodes, were of consequence, that in Babylonian times there was indeed such another zodiac. Visualise the first 30° following the North Node, the Dragon's Head as it is called, as the equivalent of Aries. The next 30° is the equivalent of Taurus, the next of Gemini and so on all the way round. To construct this draconitic or nodal chart all that is necessary is to subtract the longitude of the Moon's North Node from the longitude of each planet and angle. The idea has not been entirely lost; about twenty years ago (in one of our astrological journals) there were a couple of articles by Ronald Davison, President of the Astrological Lodge of London, who also is a believer in the ʹnodal positionsʹ, as he calls them, and uses them in conjunction with the birth chart. So I am convinced that there is a complete zodiac beginning at the Ascending Node, and that it covers the whole range of functions that we expect from any zodiac. It probably has something to say about character.
Now we all know what the characteristics of our Sign are supposed to be; but you know, to be honest, we do find cases where people are not really typical of their sign, and we find that some signs seem to produce a number of sub-types, which have nothing to do with decanates or other divisions of the sign. I am inclined to think - and I have done some work with this which is very promising - that in fact there are sub-influences, which can be attributed to the sign occupied in the Draconitic Zodiac. In effect, you could have your Sun in Aries in the zodiac we normally use, but in the Draconitic Zodiac it may be in Virgo, which will give extra coloration. I know the evidence I am about to give is a bit anecdotal, but to start with I would just like to take three charts where the Sun and Moon are in the same sign. Karl Marx was born with both Sun and Moon in Taurus; Cecil Rhodes, the discoverer of Rhodesia, great traveller and explorer, had both Sun and Moon in Cancer; Queen Victoria, that stolid presider over the fortunes of England for so long, had Sun, Moon and Ascendant in the lively Gemini. You may or may not think these are typical; but if we look at the Draconitic zodiac, Karl Marx has both Sun and Moon in Aries (... that is to say, in the first 30° section following the North Node, which always corresponds to 0° Aries), Cecil Rhodes, a very out-going sort of type really, also has the Sun and Moon in Aries, while Queen Victoria turns out to have Sun and Moon in Taurus, which we tend to associate with stability, prosperity, and the things which in England marked the Victorian era.
You see how Victoria, in the nodal zodiac, had the Sun and Moon in Taurus, stability; Marx had both lights in Taurus in the Vernal zodiac, but Marx was a revolutionary! Not really a man for the established order at all! But in the Draco Zodiac his lights fall in Aries, which is perhaps more suggestive of someone who is a pioneer, pushing for revolution. Again, the charts of very tough men often do not seem tough enough; those of you who have seen General Franco's horoscope know that he has Virgo rising, the Moon in Gemini, the Sun in Sagittarius. Does this look like a dictator, who ruled Spain with an iron fist for so long? Note however that In the Draco positions he has Leo rising, Sun in Scorpio; Moon in Taurus. Which is why he was so difficult to dislodge! Winston Churchill is another Sun in Sagittarius, but with the Sun in the nodal sign of Scorpio. People have often been heard to say, ʹI think there must have been a lot of Scorpio in Churchill.ʹ Well, there you are. Take Ernest Hemingway-one of the 'hairy chest' school of writers; he had Virgo rising, again, Sun in Cancer, Moon in Capricorn. Does this look like the man who made a profession of violence, gloried in it, and wrote about it? Perhaps we prefer the Draco version: Sun in Scorpio, the Ascendant in Sagittarius (he was a great traveller), and the Moon in Aries.
Looking at this principle the other way round, Hans Andersenʹs chart always seemed much tougher than he actually was. He had Sagittarius rising in the normal chart (he was certainly a great traveller), the Sun in Aries and the Moon in Taurus. Now, Anderson was a morbidly sensitive man. Does this sound to you like Sun in Aries and Moon in Taurus? Would you say these factors described a morbidly sensitive man, whatever other elements there may be in his chart? But in the Draco zodiac his Moon is in Cancer, which may explain a lot. Incidentally, the Sun is in Gemini, which could well account for his writing. Now this is anecdotal evidence, but in point of fact, so is the evidence for the Vernal point of the Zodiac.
Further Draconitic Examples
To offer further examples: it seems to me that the great sex symbols of our age should have Scorpio to the fore, such people as Bardot, and Marilyn Monroe, with this peculiar animal magnetism that comes across from them - surely highly suggestive of Scorpio on first acquaintance? Their charts seem very un-sexy, but transpose them to the Draco zodiac, and you find that Marilyn Monroe has the Moon in Scorpio, and Bardot Sun in Scorpio. I have no idea whether Charlie Chaplin's little man could be construed as a sex symbol... in the ordinary zodiac he was born with the Moon rising in Scorpio!... but in the Draco Zodiac the Ascendant and Moon are in Cancer - and in fact Gauquelin says in his book Cosmic Influences on Human Behaviour (Garnstone Press 1973), writing about Chaplin, that Cancer is very much like Chaplin, and also perhaps resembles his little man, who is always being put upon, and getting himself hurt to the quick.
Another man with a little moustache was Adolf Hitler - he also has Draco Cancer rising, oddly enough; I don't know whether this has something to do with one of the driving forces of his philosophy, his idea of racial superiority; the man closest to him in his thinking on such matters was Himmler - a chicken breeder who thought he could do it with humans as well - who also has the Moon rising in Cancer in the Draco zodiac. Incidentally, Hitler, like Mussolini, Lenin, Bismarck, Goebbels and a few other power-seeking politicians including Richard Nixon, has Draco Sun in Capricorn. I've done a little study which shows in fact that Sun in Capricorn in the Draco Zodiac is very often tenanted in the charts of career politicians. Draco Sun in Leo is a different animal; such people have faith in themselves. For instance, the Draco zodiac moves Cassius Clay's (Muhammed Ali's) Sun out of Capricorn and into Leo -'I'm the Greatest! ', of course! And have you heard of Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking, the man who has made a small fortune out of faith? Well, the Draco zodiac moves Norman Vincent Peale's Sun out of doubting Gemini and into Leo. Mary Baker Eddy, another apostle of positive thinking, also has the Sun in Leo in the Draco Zodiac, and so does her contemporary, Mrs. Pankhurst - champion of 'Votes for Women'. Both these women, who shone in a man's world when it was unusual for women to come to such prominence, were Sun in Cancer in the vernal zodiac, Sun in Leo in the Draco zodiac.
Napoleon
Source: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Now, there is evidence that both zodiacs, that is to say the ordinary Vernal zodiac and the Draco zodiac, are valid, and this lies in the fact that you find cross-aspects between them, as if one chart is superimposed upon the other - another area ripe for investigation. For instance, of Napoleon it was said that his driving force was an unlimited, romantic ambition, and the Draco Jupiter opposes his Vernal Sun in Leo. George Brown, the most colourful figure in British politics, of whom it has been written, 'he over-does, and over-dramatises', also has Draco Jupiter opposite vernal Sun. He wouldn't have this Jupiter opposite Sun in any other way, except by an overlapping of these two zodiacs, and a kind of charge going between them. Look at Samuel Beckett, the 'dramatist of despair', whose best-known work is Waiting For Godot (who never comes). You'd naturally associate this with Saturn; and here it is again, the Draco position of Saturn opposite his vernal Sun. Cross-aspects between Sun and Mars seem to be rather potent; Donald Campbell, who tried to break the world speed record and perished in the attempt, had Draco Mars opposite vernal Sun, while his father, Sir Malcolm Campbell had Draco Sun opposite vernal Mars. Sir Francis Chichester, the famous Lone Yachtsman, has Draco Mars opposite vernal Sun. The wildly self-assertive Salvador Dali also has Sun opposite Mars from one zodiac to the other. Here we can see that the Draco zodiac clearly gives an extra dimension to planetary contacts.
The Draco Zodiac in Synastry
There is another area where the Draco zodiac has proved valuable; in synastry, the comparison of charts. To those of you who are interested in this field of analysis, let me say that unless you use these nodal charts you're missing half the picture. Here we not only get cross-aspects from the Draco to the vernal zodiac, but we also have both charts newly transferred to the Draco zodiac, which can make aspects to each other. Wherever you find these nodal aspects in synastry, they may be indicative of a tie generally known as "Karmic". The relationship often seems to be extraordinarily fate-filled. Just to mention my wife and myself; in her Draco chart, the Sun is at 8°46' Capricorn. In my vernal chart Saturn is at 8°46' Capricorn. So my Saturn as it were falls on her Sun. My Draco Sun falls 21°07' Capricorn; and her Jupiter in the Draco zodiac is in exact conjunction again - exact to both degree and minute. If you use the Draco chart in synastry you will often find cross-aspects accurate to within half a degree at least. Apart from highlighting rather one-sided ties like this - she gets all my Saturn and I get her Jupiter! - this does serve to illustrate the extraordinarily close contacts that you can often find between people in families and other close relationships. The North Node position I expect most of you will use is that given in the ephemeris, the mean position of the Moonʹs Node. Some of you quite understandably are going to say, "Ah, but what about using the true position of the Moonʹs Node?" All I can say is that the mean position of the Node, which may differ by as much as 2° from the true position, seems to give very good results, and as evidence of this I could cite very many instances where synastry aspects are close to within 1/2°.
Transits
Now, experience shows - and here we come to transits - that quite valid transits can be formed in both the vernal and the nodal zodiacs, as well as from one to the other, and, typically, these are very close to exactitude. The idea began to dawn on me back in 1975, when my father had a stroke and died. I said to myself, "Goodness me, If there is anything in our pretensions, where are the Sun-Saturn contacts that I would expect?" They weren't there. I began to cast around, and eventually discovered buried in the files of the Astrological Quarterly for some 20 years ago the reference to the Draco zodiac. I found that when my father had his stroke, the vernal transit of Saturn opposed my Draco Sun. He died about a month later when Draco Saturn squared my vernal Sun. These aspects were close to within a quarter of a degree. I began to realise that this could hardly be coincidence, occurring on both occasions. A skim through the files showed me that this might not be an isolated incident. John Fitzgerald Kennedy it appeared, was elected President when Uranus conjoined his Draco Sun. Queen Elizabeth succeeded to the throne when Uranus opposed her Draco Sun. And incidentally on that fateful day her Draco Moon was opposed by Neptune... very typical of the event. Now the above contacts were made from one zodiac to another, but aspects are possible using the Draco co-ordinates entirely and forgetting all about the vernal zodiac. Marilyn Monroe died with Draco Pluto in transit opposite her Draco Moon, and Neil Armstrong blasted off for the Moon with Draco Mars not inappropriately transiting his Draco Saturn in Sagittarius.
I think this is a very useful addition to our armoury; and of course it is particularly helpful in the area where transits are themselves of value, in the analysis of outer events. If someone comes to you, for example, and says 'I'm worried; is my house move going to go through fairly quickly?', the transits are the main thing you look for; and there, if you use this multi-dimensional approach I think you can often arrive at an answer. In the case of my father's illness for instance, one might have asked such a question as, 'Is the old boy going to last long, and if he's going to die, when will it happen?' By using this technique I could conceivably have pinpointed it to a day. It may seem complicated, but for analysing the potentialities of some future date you know is going to be important you can get right down to it, work out the Draco positions in transits, and end up with a really good clear picture of what is happening at the time.
Recapping
With any planetary position, whether at birth, or in the sky at the moment, there are two positions-one in the vernal zodiac, one in the Draco zodiac. So, firstly, you can have the transits read straight from the current ephemeris, transiting Draco birth positions. Secondly, you can recalculate the current positions in the ephemeris using the position of the transiting Node, to find the nodal (Draco) positions of the transiting planets. These fall out, both on your ordinary vernal horoscope and also on your birth Draco horoscope. As a result there are four possibilities; and while this helps to fill in the gaps where ordinary transits fail to show up, it also explains why some transits work with remarkable force. Suppose Saturn is going over Mars (as a normal transit); this alone might not produce anything very much, and life might go by with hardly a ripple; but if you transpose it to the Draco zodiac, you may discover that, at the same time, Saturn is standing on your Draco Ascendant!
More Transits...in Action
Figures 1 and 2
Source: from the original article
We are now going to look at transits in action, using Jackie Kennedy's chart, in relation especially to her husband's assassination. If you turn to Figs. 1 and 2, you will see the two versions of Jackie Kennedy's chart - the vernal chart, and the "Draco". These of course are very simplified charts, showing the positions of the planets and the angles. Looking at the vernal and nodal birth-charts, you will see that the nodal Ascendant is in 11° Libra. in the Draco chart, and in the vernal chart that Uranus is in 11° Aries. This means that the nodal Ascendant puts the vernal Uranus in opposition, that is, highlighted on the cusp of the seventh house. You may think this is just a coincidence - but let me add that John Kennedy's Nodal Midheaven was 11° Libra. Now look at Uranus in the nodal chart; we find it in 24°05ʹ Aquarius. Her husband's own Uranus was 23°43' Aquarius. So here you see a fresh possibility - although people may be born quite some time apart it is possible for them to have Uranus in conjunction, taking both zodiacs together. Kennedy's Draco Sun was at 25° Leo, opposite his vernal Uranus, so in effect he had Sun opposite Uranus falling on Jackie's own Uranus, and all this Uranus might well have suggested, if nothing else, eventual separation or sudden misfortune. Next, look at Jackie's tenth house Draco Mars at 27° Cancer. Kennedy had a planet in the tenth house - in his case Saturn - and it too fell at 27° Cancer but in the vernal zodiac forming a contact between his vernal chart and her Draco. The orb is less than 1/2° from Jacqueline's Mars Draco.
Of course you will find some friendly cross-aspects between them, if you look at her Draco Sun/Mercury in about 18° Gemini and 15° Gemini, you will notice Kennedy's vernal Venus, the ruler of his chart at 16°45' Gemini, almost precisely on the mid-point of that conjunction. Again, Kennedy's Mars (Mars is always important in sexual attraction, and in this case ruled the seventh house, so even more significant) had a Draco position of 6° Leo, falling on her vernal Sun. Look over her Draco chart and you will see that this Mars placement was square her Venus - the orb here being about 1 1/2°, more than I like, but perhaps valid. The foregoing illustrates how one can map significant aspects in synastry from one chart to another, and also indicates - through this very strong Uranus link - how contacts involving the Draco zodiac tend to be extraordinarily Karmic. I find this time and time again.
Figures 3
Source: from the original article
Now let us consider some of the transits on the fateful day in November 1963; we find that it is Venus that is in deepest trouble, in Jackie's chart - which we would expect. The simplified version of her chart (Fig. 3) shows in the middle her ordinary natal positions, the Draco surrounding it in the second circle, in the next the vernal transits-the ordinary transits - and in the outermost ring the Draco transits. We find some interesting contacts, particularly in relation to Venus. In the vernal transits a conjunction of Venus and Mars fell opposite her Venus in 21° Gemini. Now many of these transits pass without much happening - so why did a transit of Venus/Mars opposite natal Venus prove to be so unfortunate? Well, in this particular case we might consider whether natal Venus in the Draco chart is also under fire. You will find her there at 4° Taurus; and as it turns out, Saturn is in opposition from Scorpio, both positions being in the Draco co-ordinates. It is no surprise that on such a day the same planet is heavily afflicted in both zodiacs simultaneously.
We might go on to ask, in adding to our understanding of this transit's strong effect, whether the transiting Venus conjunct Mars is afflicting a point in some other dimension. We find the Draco position of the conjunction in 7° - 8° Virgo (in the outermost circle) opposite the Draco birth Moon. What seems an innocuous and simple transit thus becomes very much more serious. Another ordinary transit then in force was Pluto over natal Mars and Midheaven, in 14° Virgo. If we apply our technique and ask what that transiting Pluto was doing in its Draco position, we find it in 1° Gemini conjunct radical Draco Pluto... Now you see why that transit of Pluto over Mars and Midheaven was so much stronger; because it was resonating, as it were, with its own birth position. It was completing a cycle.
I want to validate what I have been saying by reminding you that transits are all the more important where they stimulate progressions, thereby to confirm the significance of the transits we've looked at in Jackie's chart. By the familiar equation of a day for a year progressed Sun was 8 1/4° Virgo - You can see how it emphasised some of those crucial transits. Remember how Saturn opposed Venus in the Draco dimension? Well, in the minor progressions of a month for a year (with which some of you will be familiar) Saturn was stationary in 4 1/4° Aquarius. Now a station of Saturn is always important, but you will see that this one falls in close square with the Draco Venus in 4° Taurus that is receiving the opposition from transiting Draco Saturn in 4° Scorpio. The above progressions are vernal only; and just to throw your mind into even greater turmoil there is no reason why Draco progressed positions cannot be considered too. In the minor progressions I mentioned the progressed Draco Pluto was conjunct Mars, a not inappropriate aspect for an assassination. This Pluto conjunct Mars added weight to the transit of Pluto over Mars. We had much to say earlier about Jackie's Draco Uranus in 24° Aquarius; it is interesting that the New Moon before the assassination fell in 23° Scorpio, and one wonders, as so often happens with a New Moon, always a potent trigger, whether it was stimulating a progression. In the ordinary set-up you won't find it; but the converse day-for-a-year Mars was at 24° Leo. So converse Mars was opposed to Draco Uranus - a violent, sudden and dramatic progression - and this was being stimulated by the transit New Moon immediately before the event. All these transits were in fact touching on directional aspects. It may all sound very complicated at first, but you will soon develop the knack of switching from one scheme of zodiac reference to another with ease. And even so, one would only wish to work everything out on special occasions.
The Multi-Dimensional Approach
What I want to suggest is that instead of trying to exhaust the ramifications of a sole dimension, whether you're working with midpoints or harmonics or whatever, interesting though these are, the answers to the problems of astrology may ultimately be found in just such a multi-dimensional approach. We already recognise that a number of valid dimensions exist; we have the Ecliptic longitude, parallels of declination plus zodiacs and houses in two different dimensions that are related to each other; and I maintain that if we extend our thinking along these lines, the nodal zodiac offers a very fruitful avenue of experiment. To summarise the system, things happen when several co-ordinates coincide; a single aspect in one dimension reinforces another; if there is no overlapping, things tend not to happen, and you can make some very nasty mistakes. You have noticed of course how the introduction of one extra dimension introduces a wide range of additional factors; when you have two dimensions, each reacts within itself and with each other.
A further possibility using the extra dimension of nodal charts is to calculate the positions of transit planets from the radical node. I call this scheme the radical draconitic reference (RDR). Thus at the assassination in Dallas the transit Moon was at 11°12' Aquarius (311°12'), and subtracting the radical node at 17°15ʹ Taurus (47°15') gives a longitude of 23°57' Sagittarius, close to radical Saturn at 24°40' Sagittarius. RDR Pluto falls square radical Moon. RDR Draco positions to radical Draco will duplicate the ordinary (vernal to vernal) transits, but some new contacts can be formed. As a labour saving device, a subsidiary chart can be constructed from the radix which enables the RDR contacts to be read off from the ephemeris. To prepare this chart (we will call it Draco II) add the Node's longitude to the longitude of the planets and angles. So we now have three charts capable of receiving transits from the positions shown in the current ephemeris - the ordinary (vernal) version, the nodal version, and the auxiliary Draco II version.
Initial research suggests that there is also a draconitic cycle (abbr DC) based on the transit node and the planets and angles at birth. By this means all the radical places are directed at the same speed as the Node. As the aspects are repeated about every eighteen years they may not be crucial, but perhaps sensitise parts of the chart for other transits. At her husband's death Jackie's Node was 56°12' in advance of its birth position. Adding this arc to radical Pluto brings the planet to 14°32' Virgo (conjunct Mars), and Neptune to 26°20' Libra (opposite Moon). It also brings the Moon to Venus, perhaps making that planet more sensitive to the transit afflictions, and the Sun receives the conjunction of Jupiter, which may indicate the enormous pomp of the next few days, the worldwide publicity, etc. But I do suggest that for your early experiments you confine yourselves to the simple Draco chart.
The Sidereal Dimension
Finally, there may be one more major dimension which interacts with these two; both the vernal and the Draco zodiacs are measured from a moving point - the vernal from the point at which the Sun crosses the equator and which moves slowly with the precession of the equinox, the nodal zodiac from the point where the Moon crosses the Ecliptic. These are both moving zodiacs. But there may well be a fixed, sidereal zodiac, based on an unmoving point located somewhere against the backdrop of stars. Some astrologers, - as you may know, prefer working with a fixed zodiac, and have done for a long time in India; and some Western astrologers have been using a zodiac popularised by Cyril Fagan and slightly refined through purely empirical research by Garth Allen (who was the astronomer Donald Bradley). Without going into it very deeply, in the case of Jackie Kennedy the sidereal zodiac puts every planet in the vernal chart about 24° backwards. Thus the Sidereal Ascendant is about 4° Scorpio. Notice anything?
JFK and Jackie in their limousine before the assassination
Source: Victor Hugo King, who placed the photograph in the public domain (presumably when he gave it to the Library of Congress)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Is it not pinpointing that very strong Saturn opposite Venus? Bearing in mind that Draco Pluto had reached the position of 1° Gemini, a return to its natal Draco position; if we work out Saturnʹs place In the Sidereal version of Jackie's horoscope, it falls at 1° Sagittarius, precisely opposite this conjunction of Pluto. Venus was much discussed earlier on; with her in Jackie's seventh house is Jupiter, at 9° Gemini, and if you take of 24° it is interesting that the Sidereal position in 15° Taurus was currently opposite Neptune in Scorpio in the vernal zodiac. There is still a big zodiac debate going on as to which zodiac, Tropical or Sidereal, is the best. Is the best for what, one wonders? As I understand it, each zodiac offers a different dimension of meaning, and I think it is in the combination of them all that the solution to so many of our astrological problems may lie.
Note:
This article is based on a lecture given to the 1977 Astrological Association Conference at Churchill College, Cambridge
Published by: The Astrological Journal, Winter 1977/78
Author:
Dennis Elwell was a British astrologer, an avid student and professional for more than 45 years and one of Britain's foremost practitioners, known for some stunning predictions over the years. A journalist for most of his adult life, he has contributed regular articles to noted journals since the 1950s. His first book, Cosmic Loom, The New Age of Astrology, 1987, was an attempt to bring astrology back into serious discussion in society and answer scientific objections. Elwell started an advanced correspondence course entitled "The Chiron Project" in 1993. He died on 13 November 2014.
© Dennis Elwell, Astrological Journal, 1977/2023
