Sources:
Gadbury, John. Collectio Geniturarum.London: James Cottrel, 1662.
———. Genethlialogia, or the Doctrine of Nativities.2d ed. London: 1661.
———. Obsequium Rationabile....London, 1675.
Holden, James H., and Robert A. Hughes. Astrological Pioneers of America.Tempe, AZ: Ameri-
can Federation of Astrologers, 1988.GAEA
Gaea, asteroid 1,184 (the 1,184th asteroid to be discovered, on September 5, 1926), is
approximately 20 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 4.4 years. Gaea
was named after the Greek earth goddess; gaeais Greek for “Earth.” J. Lee Lehman
associates this asteroid with what she calls the “ground of being.” Jacob Schwartz gives
the astrological significance of Gaea as “a personification of Mother Earth, a place
rather than a player.”Sources:
Kowal, Charles T. Asteroids: Their Nature and Utilization.Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Ellis
Horwood Limited, 1988.
Lehman, J. Lee. The Ultimate Asteroid Book.West Chester, PA: Whitford Press, 1988.
Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.GALACTICCENTER
Earth is located in a spiral-shaped galaxy approximately 100,000 light-years in diame-
ter. Our solar system lies on the outskirts of the galaxy, about 30,000 light-years away
from the galactic center (GC). From Earth’s perspective, the GC is located in the lat-
ter degrees of the sign Sagittarius. (Owing to the tropical or moving zodiac that most
Western astrologers use, the exact position of the GC appears to be is gradually shift-
ing.) The GC is such an intense source of infrared emissions and microwaves that
astrophysicists have speculated that an explosion took place there 10 million years
ago. Because our solar system is actually rotating around the GC, the GC can be
thought of as a bit like the sun of our solar system. The 250 million years that it takes
for our solar system to complete one rotation is called a cosmic year.
Astrologers who have studied the effects of the galactic center in horoscopes
have found that it exerts a powerful influence within a narrow orb of 2°, with some
effect out to 4°. Individuals with inner planets or one of the angles conjunct the GC
have, as noted in Philip Sedgwick’ book The Astrology of Deep Space,a potential link
“with whatever it is behind all this.” When this transpersonal link is ignored, the indi-
vidual can experience stress and confusion; when it is consciously appropriated, infor-
mation can be grasped that the individual may seem to have no outward way of know-
ing. The GC is not significant in such natural events as earthquakes, but it does
appear to be prominent in important events involving technology. It also seems to
play a major role in human inventiveness, especially technological inventiveness.
Given the many points occupying contemporary astrological space—heliocen-
tric planets, multiple midpoints, thousands of asteroids, and so forth—everyone surelyGaea
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