Mundane Matters

Taken from Astrology Quarterly Spring 2006

18 November 2006 (written Spring 2006)

Many excellent columns giving an overview of the upcoming planetary movements already exist, so when Gill asked me to write a mundane column it took me a while to decide on the format. Rather than having an appraisal of what to expect or a correlation between events and conditions it occurred to me that there might be space for a column dealing with the substance of mundane astrology itself: an attempt to explore what it is and what it isn't.

Hopefully you'll all have read the Carter Memorial Lecture published in the Winter issue of Astrology Quarterly and your little grey cells will have been well and truly inspired by Andre Barbault's account of cycles and the correlations between them and the development of the modern world. If so, you'll be well on the way to grasping one of the fundamental tools of modern mundane astrology. However, I'd like to start somewhere else.

In the proem. to Anima Astrologiae – the Astrologer's Guide – you find the following:

Amongst those things that appertain to giving judgement in questions of Astrology, there are six to be chiefly considered:- 1st Nations, and their particular kinds. 2ndly Families, and the constitutions and ordinations of Families, and Houses. 3rdly Rich and potent persons, Dispositions and Affairs. 4thly Regard is to be had to the Individuals of human kind. 5thly Elections or time proper for the beginning of any Work or Enterprise. 6thly Questions as well universal as particular, pertient and fit to be demanded.
Anima Astrologae,
Guido Bonatti

Most traditional authorities agree with this schema and the hierarchy of "subjects fit to be judged" can be listed as follows:

States and great nations
Dynasties and families
Kings and potentates
Individual nativities
Electional
Horary questions.

Above these, at the top of the list, I think you can place the study of great conjunctions and eclipses and was very pleased to hear Mike Edwards put forward the same idea a few years ago at a lodge lecture – am I back at cycles already? The movement of the planets themselves, the study of cycles and eclipses must by this same logic encompass everything within it. There is some localisation – lunations, eclipses and cycles can all be set for specific locations which will show increased intensity with angular placements but the tone is set regardless of location.

You can assign a planet to each level and can view it as if you were ascending up the spheres towards the heavens. Horary has the Moon, the most important planet in that discipline due to its speed of movement; Electional has Mercury, which fits well with the notion of trying to bring conscious intent to the start of an endeavour; Venus gets Natal astrology; The Sun gets Kings and potentates as befits the symbolism; Dynasties get Mars and Jupiter finishes off with States and great nations. Above this comes Saturn and if you choose to include the top layer mentioned above this makes a great deal of symbolic sense. We are, after all, locked into a material existence and beholden to the consequences of our incarnation on this plane. All this is very well expressed by Saturn. The Lodge Spring Seminar for 2004 was based around this premise.

Tradition holds that you should master the lower levels before ascending up the list. You begin with horary, so as to establish an understanding of rulerships and other basic symbolism then progress to electional, which could be seen as the reverse of horary - one asks the question and looks at the conditions, the other looks for the conditions which will bring a desired outcome.

Natal astrology – the study and judgement of an entire life - was never the starting point of astrological study – and it does make sense that you should have some appreciation of astrological principles before wading into a natal consultation.

The levels above this describe what we usually mean when we talk about mundane astrology. As well as being the order in which you should study they define a hierarchy and the higher levels have an impact on those below. Charles Carter referred to this as the Doctrine of Subsumption:

This is the Doctrine of Subsumption: horoscopes fall into a hierarchical order, each with less field as one descends, but yet being the dominant horoscope of others yet lower down the scale.
An Introduction to Political Astrology,
Charles E. O. Carter

The scope for action is limited by the terms of the layer above. The promise shown within a natal chart will depend on the conditions of the time that the person lives as well as the geographical and cultural conditions they find themselves. Joan of Arc led an army against the English on the advice of her voices but she would have elicited a quite different response in the late 20th Century, probably involving a psychiatrist and/or a straightjacket.

The astrology of Kings and potentates is an extension of natal study: these are individuals who have influence and power over groups. Transits and progressions to the natal chart of a leader of an organisation, country or institution will reflect the current conditions the organisation is experiencing. For example, George W. Bush's ascendant is at 7° Leo and is currently being transited by Saturn. Last year, the many problems experienced by GWB and the USA coincided with the exact passage of Saturn over his ascendant.

The next level up, that of Dynasties and families and States and Great Nations. This also encompasses the study of countries, treaties and election – that’s elections as democracy in action elections – or inauguration charts. It’s not that great a leap of the imagination to think of modern politics in the same terms as dynasties: Kennedy, Bush, Windsor, Borgia, Medici? There are many political ideas and concepts which don’t have a literal correlation with this system but do fit within the ideas covered by Dynasties and Houses and States and great Nations.

The distinctions between these two seems to be one of time. A state, for instance England, will have had many houses for its monarchy: Tudors, Stuarts, Hanoverians. It’s very possible that the creation of modern states may work on the same level as Dynasties but this needs more research.

Where ever you happen to live there will be a leader, who will be part of a House or Dynasty, which will exist within a State. Each level is subject to the astrology of the level above. The leader i.e. Tony Blair, must act within the terms of the Labour Party (maybe that wasn’t the best example…). In turn he is subject to the conditions of the United Kingdom. They, in turn, interact with Europe, NATO and other pertinent international agencies. You are effectively moving up the hierarchy of effect and the lower levels must work within the sphere of influence of those above it.

You can see already that mundane astrology involves many more factors – and you thought you were over complicating things by using secondary progressions and solar arc directions. Mundane astrology does use a lot of charts and I know this drives some people potty. Also high on the list of complaints is the tenuousness nature of some of the charts used. Just what constitutes the chart for a new phase in a countries history? In the case of countries you end up with event charts, legal charts and symbolic charts and this will form the basis of a future column.

To conclude this introduction: effective mundane astrology needs to bring together the current conditions as shown by the greater cycles, eclipses, lunations and ingresses with the charts available for the particular locales. When you have considered the promise which each chart holds, the manner of its unfolding at that moment (as shown by transits and progressions) and how current conditions will support or hinder that then you begin to have an accurate assessment of what’s going on. Making predictions from single charts, especially lunation, is not mundane astrology.

This stuff is not easy but that’s OK because we can do difficult things.