Minderwiz
Hi Minderwiz,
Did my comments add enough for you to move forward or do you need more details?
Sorry, I've not shifted my cought, which has now been with me for two weeks and causes interrupted nights. It's been easy to address the outstanding horaries, than to take on the research needed. I had hoped it would be over by now but my wife had the same thing and it's only just going after about four or five weeks.
I was hoping that I could address the issue of your childhood move but wihist I've looked, I can't see anything that ties in clearly with your time frame. I'll try giving you what I've got and see if it makes any sense.
LeiifA said:And on another note I would like to know if you could clarify an aspect of Hellenistic methods that can be confusing? The explanations of the attributes of Dexter and Sinister seem a bit perplexing. I have read articles by D. Houlding and several others that are either missing something or not completely clear.
Could you elaborate on your understanding of this topic and then I will ask for clarity if needed?
Thank you, be well
Firstly Dexter and Sinister are simply the Latin words for Right and Left, respectively. What is being described is the direction of the aspect. As an aspect involves tow planets it's important to be clear what our reference point planet is. Otherwise, it does get confusing and contradictory.
So for this example, have a look at the attached diagram. Mercury is placed in Aries in the tenth place. All signs from Taurus to Virgo inclusive are on the left hand side of the diagram and run in the order of signs. Mercury therefore casts its left hand (Sinister) sextile to Gemini, its left hand (Sinister) square to Cancer and its left hand (Sinister) trine to Leo.
Signs from Pisces through to Scorpio lie on the right hand side of the diagram. So Mercury casts its right hand (Dexter) sextile to Aquarius, its right hand (Dexter) square to Capricorn and its right hand (Dexter) trine to Sagittarius. Right hand aspects are against the direction of the signs or if you prefer are in the direction of the Earth's diurnal rotation.
Aspects in the direction of signs, are considered the stronger. Thus Mercury's Sinister square is stronger than its Dexter square.
So to firm up the example, if Venus lies in Cancer it receives the left hand square of Mercury in Aries, a square in the direction of signs. But Mercury receives the Dexter square of Venus because it is a square against the direction of the signs or if you prefer, in the direction of diurnal rotation.
Which planet dominates? As Mercury's Sinister square is in the direction of signs, it is stronger than Venus' Dexter square against the order of signs. Mercury dominates.
So where does the confusion come from? Consider the situation of you and me standing facing each other. Your left side is on my right and my left side is on your right. So left and right only make sense if we know which of us is the reference point for the terms right and left.
Consider Venus as the reference point. Mercury's square comes from Venus' right. So Venus is overcome by a square from the right whereas Mercury is able to overcome Venus' square from Mercury's left.
The important thing is that you are clear about which planet is your reference point when you are using the terms right and left.
It's the reference point you measure from that determines whether the aspect is from the right or from the left. But an aspect in the direction of signs always dominates the same aspect against the direction of signs. The planet earlier in the zodiac wins (for these purposes the zodiac wheel is a circle with no start or finish, only a direction of movement).