different names—Persephone, Isis, Minerva, and Bacchus, to name a few—but
Transpluto is its most commonly accepted designation. Many astrologers have been
attracted by the idea of one or more transplutonian planets, because their discovery
would allow astrologers to complete the transferral of sign rulerships that has been in
progress since the discovery of Uranus: In the premodern system of sign rulerships,
each of the traditional planets ruled two signs apiece, while the luminaries (the Sun
and the Moon) each ruled one sign. As the outer planets were discovered, the ruler-
ships of Aquarius, Pisces, and Scorpio were gradually transferred to Uranus, Neptune,
and Pluto, leaving Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars as the rulers of Capricorn, Sagittarius,
and Aries. Only Mercury and Venus are still viewed as ruling two signs each.
Because of the attractiveness of a balanced system in which 12 heavenly bodies
rule 12 signs, twentieth-century astrologers have often speculated that two new planets
would eventually be discovered and come to be accepted as the rulers of Virgo and Libra.
In particular, it has been speculated that the hypothetical planet Vulcan, which some
astronomers said could be found between the Sun and Mercury, is the ruler of Virgo,
while Transpluto has been thought to rule Libra. The abandonment of the notion of an
intramercurial planet by astronomers has also tended to call into doubt the notion of an
extra-Plutonian planet, and some contemporary astrologers have begun to put forward
certain asteroids as candidates for the rulerships of Virgo and Libra.
Neptune was discovered by astronomers who used perturbations in the orbit of
Uranus to calculate the position of a transuranian planet. Its position was determined
mathematically by a Frenchman as well as an Englishman, and German astronomers
were actually able to locate the new planet. In a similar manner, some astrologers
believe they have enough data to plot the orbit of a transplutonian planet, and more
than one ephemeris has been published (Transpluto has even been incorporated into
chart-casting programs). The most significant astrological publication in this area is
John Robert Hawkins’s book Transpluto, Or Should We Call Him Bacchus, the Ruler of
Taurus?which includes an ephemeris as well as preliminary delineations for Transplu-
to’s house positions, sign positions, and aspects. Transpluto, Or Should We Call Him
Bacchushas generated enough interest to merit three printings, but the transplutonian
planet is still outside the astrological mainstream and will undoubtedly remain so until
astronomers definitively establish its existence.Sources:
Corliss, William R. The Sun and Solar System Debris: A Catalog of Astronomical Anomalies.Glen
Arm, MD: The Sourcebook Project, 1986.
Hawkins, John Robert. Transpluto, Or Should We Call Him Bacchus, the Ruler of Taurus?1976.
Reprint, Tempe, AZ: American Federation of Astrologers, 1990.TRECILE
A trecile (also called a tresile) is a minor aspect of 108°. Some astrologers place it in
the family of aspects created by subdividing a circle into 10 parts (36°, 72°, 108°,
144°, etc.). It could also be regarded as a quintile (72°) and a half and is thus related
to that family of aspects. It is given an orb of influence of 1 to 2°.Trecile
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