Ye Quizze: Parte the First - Answer and Parte the Seconde

Dear readers,

Here is Thomas's answer to the first question of ye quizze. We hope you enjoy it and spend some quality time going over his answer. There is much to be learned here! Question Two is here as well, for the impatient.

---Nina AKA Gryphon

Both c. and e. are correct.

Now to Mr. X. It is very tempting when assessing temperament to make a list of hot, dry, cold and moist and draw ones conclusion from the qualities that have the most points. But beware! The general condition of the planets must first be considered before a well-founded judgement can be made.

Which planets come into consideration in Mr. X's chart? We have the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter as Lord 1 plus Sagittarius as ascendant. Saturn and Mars give some colour through aspects made either to the Moon or the Sun.

Five planets in this chart are peregrine, including the Sun. The Moon is in its triplicity. Jupiter is in its term. Both the Moon and Jupiter are in detriment.

The strongest planet in this chart is the Moon (see endnote 1 - Ed.). She is the Lady of the Geniture. But let us go through the reasoning. First this is a night birth and so the Moon has a stronger influence than the Sun. The Moon is also angular and in the first house. Don't be confused by her being incepted. Inception is not a debility. It just means that Capricorn does not have a cusp. A planet in its triplicity is also strong. Being in detriment means that this Moon is not nice. She is in fact a nasty sort of Moon. So she will not give a well formed body. Mr. X is not handsome.

Although Lord of the first house, Jupiter cannot be Lord of the Geniture. Jupiter is cadent and combust and therefore very weak.

Mercury and Venus are angular but they are both peregrine and so are too weak to be Lord or Lady of the Geniture.

Now we are ready to assess the qualities. The Ascendant is hot and dry Sagittarius. Its ruler Jupiter is in warm and moist Gemini and being oriental has a bit more hot and dry. But Jupiter is also combust so the moisture is being evaporated so to speak. We have hot and dry with some moisture.

The Sun is in warm and moist season sextile to hot and dry Mars in Leo. Mars is occidental so yet drier. We have warm with some moisture but here also a tendency to dryness.

The Moon is in cold and dry Capricorn. She is in her third quarter and so is even colder and drier. She is trine to Saturn in cold and dry Taurus. Saturn is occidental and therefore even colder but with a bit of moisture. Saturn receives the Moon in its exaltation as the Moon receives Saturn in its domicile. We have a very cold and dry Moon as Lady of the Geniture, angular and in the first house.

The native is strongly melancholic with some choler a tad of sanguinity.

Who is Mr. X?
He is the cabaretist Karl Valentin (pronounced Fah-len-teen)
Pictures of him may be found at the following link. http://www.karl-valentin.de/

Endnote 1

I am of the opinion that a peregrine planet must always be preferred
to an essentially debilitated one (here, the Moon in detriment). As John Frawley put it, putting a debilitated planet in charge is like "giving the mafia keys to the country." It's much better to go for a cadent peregrine planet than an angular malefic. I wouldn't bring in the idea of receptions as reasons to ignore potentially helpful planets. The point of finding the Lord of the Geniture is to be able to give practical, immediate advice to clients in which direction to go; advising anyone to follow that Moon would clearly be irresponsible.

Mercury is the most practical Lord of the Geniture for Valentin. The conjunction with Venus in a water sign on the Descendant gives him an artistic connection with audiences. Note that Mercury is conjunct the (bright) fixed star Alhena, which brings artistic renown. Yes, it's in the Moon's sign, but that's life - lots of good Lords of the Geniture are in bad planets' signs. The point is that we aren't looking for the perfect planet here, but rather the best we can get. An angular Mercury conjunct Venus in the 7th with a good fixed star is not at all a bad thing.

Note also the prenatal eclipse - the eclipse Venus/Merc conjunct the natal Sun, highlighting the importance of the Venus/Merc natal conjunction.

Ye fecunde Questione:

What is moitie and how important is it?

a. Moitie is a fixed star in the constellation of Ophiuchus also known as X Oph. It is of the nature of Mercury and is described by Ptolemy the younger as dividing in halves so depending on the context it may have some relevance.

b. Moitie is not a what it is a who. Philippe de Moitie was an astrologer who lived during the reign of Henri IV. His only surviving manuscript, "Oublie les Orbes" (Forget Orbs) has been sadly ignored.

c. Moitie is French for half and refers to the radius of an orb of influence ascribed by many authors to the planets. Each moitie varying from planet to planet. Lilly for example gives the sun a moitie of 15-17 degrees, depending which he remembers. Moitie is actually equivalent to the modern orb which curiously has wandered from the planets to the aspects. Whatever. Both moitie and orbs can be safely ignored as it is more important to consider whether one planet beholds another. Planets in the same sign behold one another even if one is in the 1st degree of the sign and the other in the 29th. Planets in two succeeding signs for example do not behold one another. So a planet in Aries does not behold one in Taurus. They cannot aspect one another.

d. Moitie is what happens to an aspect when two planets are in signs of long ascension. It means "stretched". So what usually is a square is in this case a trine. This is important when needed.