Some observations
One of the books that was bestowed on me by my astrologer friend who can no longer read was Joan McEvers' 1980 "12 Times 12: 144 Sun/Ascendant Combinations." Although I tend to be hugely skeptical of anything that surfaced during the advent of the "Piscean Pipe-dream" (aka "New Age")......
And rightly so
Like you I am very sceptical of 'New Age'. However, that is because much of it is based on an import of Eastern mysticism, which is rarely understood by those importing it and ends up used out of context or indeed even misused. That of course, does not mean that in the original context and use it is a 'pipe dream'. The issue here is really going to boil down to whether it has validity in terms of the system into which it is imported - Western Astrology.
Barleywine said:
something she said about the Scorpio Ascendant/8th House Cancer Sun combination made perfect sense when considered in the light of my long-standing practice of divination - primarily tarot, but also geomancy and predictive astrology.
"If either the Ascendant or the Sun is in the Cancer decanate, you can be extremely intuitive and perceptive even bordering on the psychic." Both of these are in the Cancer decanate in my chart.
Further, "With the Sun in either the 8th or 9th House, you have a powerful mystic streak and a definite interest in mental and spiritual matters . . ."
The first issue here is the main one - 'the Cancer decante'. The decans (decantes) are probably of Egyptian origin and Hellenistic codification. There is no such thing as a 'Cancer decan', in this system but there is a decan ruled by the Moon and it happens to run from the 21st degree up to 0 Leo. The system starts with Mars ruling the first decan of Aries and then proceeds in unbroken Chaldean order through the Zodiac. That means that it is unlikely the ruling planet of a sign has a decan within that sign - only Aries, Cancer, Virgo and Scorpio are 'lucky'
Now the decans along with whole sign houses, aspects, etc were imported into Jyotish somewhere around the second or third centuries AD. The Hindu Astrologers ended up with four methods of calculation for decans. One of these was used by New Age influenced Astrologers in the West. That is the trinal or element based system. For Cancer that would have Cancer ruling the first decan, Scorpio the second and Pisces the third. Each sign has itself ruling the first decan and the other two signs in the same triplicity follow in zodiacal order.
This system is not something that was invented by the New Age crew, it existed long before them and is a valid and integral part of Jyotish. I'll mention one use of it in a moment but first I want to look briefly at the second issue.
You mention Scorpio Ascendant Cancer Sun in the 8th and then later Scorpio Ascendant Cancer Sun in the 8th or 9th. I've not read McEvers book that you referred to so I'm not sure whether the distinction here is yours or hers. I'm guessing that she only refers to the latter - that is Scorpio Ascendant, Sun in Cancer in the 8th or 9th but I hope you will correct me if that guess is wrong.
The reason for my guess is that a 12 x 12 system only works if you use whole sign houses or play down the house position in a quadrant system. A Scorpio Ascendant produces a Taurus Descendant. In whole signs that would put Cancer in the ninth (which has a connection with Astrology and Divination). However in a quadrant system, it would be quite possible for Cancer to fall into the eight house, at least in part (ninth house cusp in Cancer). What is more, the further North or South you go and depending on the time of day and year, you might well find that even that observation breaks down.
Barleywine said:
I can certainly see how this fits like a glove. (Even the "false note" in this rosy picture added by my Capricorn Moon makes me demand at least subjectively convincing evidence but doesn't dull the ardor.) I......
I do note that McEvers doesn't say anything about the Pisces decanate, which might be seen as an obvious connection for spiritual and psychic proclivites.
You are always wise to require 'convincing evidence'
One of the uses that Jyotish makes of the decans (drekkana - a transliteration into Sanskrit) is in Varga charts (which are based on various subdivisions of a Sign). Komilla Sutton, uses only the trinal decans in her Essentials of vedic Astrology but she says that the resulting Varga Chart is of significance for Third House matters. She uses the 'usual' interpretation of the third, for Siblings, which she correctly points out are not a trivial issue in India. She includes friends and alliances in the third plus courage ability and motivation. The Varga chart allows you to 'fine tune' the issues relating to these found in the third house of the Rasi or Radix Chart.
Now these areas have nothing to do with the psychic or divinatory abilities and that would seem to invalidate the connection with the decans. But if we go back to Hellenistic Astrology, from which the decans were imported. The original meanings of the third house were not quite the same.
Yes, it included Siblings, friends and relatives (the latter two having fallen out of use), Yes it included travel, foreign things and places and living abroad. But it also included Dreams and Divination. It is, after all, the House of the Goddess and the Joy of the Moon. There are other things as well but the important thing in this context is that the Jyotish reference to third house issues has at least some connection with Divination in a Western Tradition context.
Now that doesn't prove the issue. The trinal decans are not Western and I don't know if, historically, Jyotish ever connected the third house to Dreams and Divination. That might be something worth investigating.
My point here really is that the connection just can't be dismissed out of hand as the delusions of the New Age. There may be grains of truth here.
Barleywine said:
(One caveat: I have always used the Placidus houses for natal work, and this looks like something of a validation to me.)
I'm sorry, it isn't
If I'm right about McEvers, she does not distinguish between the eighth or the ninth house placement, with different interpretations. She Takes Scorpio Ascendant and Cancer Sun (whether it falls in the eighth or ninth house). Indeed Jyotish uses the Whole Sign House system and always has for natal work.
What's more, McEvers' interpretation really only makes sense within a ninth House context as this is the house that Western Astrology asssociates with Divination.
PS her non-use of the Pisces decante, inclines me to believe that her source material was not necessarily from a New Age fanatic and that adds perhaps some circumstantial evidence for those 'grains of truth'.