Astrology By Dr. Harold Williams of Montgomery College Planetarium

Personal Prejudice “These are the rights of pagans of which my soul has no faith.” Geoffrey Chaucer Treatise on the Astrolabe ~1387 Men at some time are masters of their fates: the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Cassius, scene ii Act 1 Julius Caesar by Williams Shakespeare ~1599 I am a member of the First Baptist Church of Silver Spring and an adult Sunday School teacher and an ordained deacon. I am an astrophysicist and natural philosopher and applied mathematician.

Some Internet Resources y_typehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Astrology_b y_type rologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_and_Persian_ast rology

Questions to be answered to Cast a horoscope What date and time is it; and where is it? What is the sun sign? Where is the sun along the ecliptic, what zodiacal constellation is it in? This depends mainly on the date unless it is near the cusp division between, zodiacal constellations. The answer to this question depends upon weather you are using tropical or Jyotisha (sidereal) or IAU (International Astronomical Union) constellations.

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Now adding more detail Use where and when you now determine which zodiacal constellations are on the meridian (midheaven) and coming up (ascendant) and going down (descendent) So now you have 4 zodiacal constellations. You now have the following signs: Sun, Ascendant, Midheaven, and Descendant

Now add planets and the moon Particularly if those planets or the moon are above the horizon. Each planet and the moon are also in a particular zodiacal constellation If a comet or alignment or occultation is going on you can add more. This too occurs in some constellation somewhere.

So far you have only done positional astronomy Now you have to interpret these things for your client who feels a sense of authority since these things are celestial and over their head. Here you either use some stuff written in some old musty book or make up your own stuff like the original musty book writer did. The latter method is fraudulent; the former method is foolish, unless the musty book writer explains how the correlation was arrived at. Seen any data? Now you see why I stop at the positional astronomy! Not wanting to be a fraud or a fool.

Gainesville, Florida, USA, August 23, :11:02AM Sun sign Leo Ascendant sign Leo Mid-heaven sign Taurus Descendent sign Aquarius Planets above horizon: Pluto in Leo Venus in Cancer Uranus in Gemini Moon not up.