Morrison also noted a cyclic mood pattern peculiar to people born during void-of-
course moons.
Another astrologer, Janis Huntley, studied 250 charts and found that approxi-
mately 1 out of every 12 people was born while the Moon was void of course. She also
found a significantly higher percentage—1 out of every 8—among famous people.
Thus, this placement does not appear to dampen achievement. Like Morrison, Hunt-
ley found that individuals born during void-of-course moons seemed to suffer some-
what from the turmoils of their emotions. They often experience loneliness, feeling
“different and misunderstood.”
Morrison has published a void-of-course moon ephemeris for many years. Also,
some astrological magazines, such as the Mountain Astrologer,contain day-by-day
accounts of transiting conditions that note when the Moon goes void of course as well
as when the Moon enters a new sign. Finally, certain of the major emphemerides, such
as the American Emphemeris,published by Astro Computing, contain last-aspect and
ingress information for the Moon. By all indications, the void-of-course moon has
found a permanent niche in the mainstream of modern astrology.Sources:
Huntley, Janis. Astrological Voids: Exploring the Missing Components in the Birth Chart.Rockport,
MA: Element Books, 1991.
Michelsen, Neil F. The American Ephemeris for the 20th Century.San Diego: Astro Computing
Services, 1988.
Morrison, Al H. “Notes on the Void-of-Course Moon.” The Mountain Astrologer 889
(August/September 1989): 11, 29.VULCAN
Vulcan (related to the word volcano) is a “hypothetical planet” (sometimes referred to
as the trans-Neptunian points or planets, or TNPs for short) that astronomers formerly
speculated would be—and that a few astrologers still anticipate will be—found orbiting
the Sun inside the orbit of Mercury. The nineteenth-century French astronomer
Urbain Le Verrier was the first person to hypothesize its existence and, shortly after he
made his theories known, people began to claim that they had observed Vulcan. It was
named after the ancient Roman god of fire, who was also blacksmith to the gods. Alice
Bailey’s system of esoteric astrology makes extensive use of Vulcan, and some esoteric
astrologers still utilize it. Many astrologers anticipated that Vulcan, when discovered,
would be assigned the rulership of Virgo. As astronomers gradually abandoned the
notion of an intermercurial planet, Vulcan slowly faded from astrological discourse.
There is, for example, no entry for Vulcan in such standard references as the Larousse
Encyclopedia of Astrologyor Eleanor Bach’s Astrology from A to Z.Thanks to the Star
Trektelevision series, the name is still alive, although Mr. Spock’s home planet bears
little resemblance to the hypothetical planet of astronomical history.Sources:
Bach, Eleanor. Astrology from A to Z: An Illustrated Source Book.New York: Philosophical
Library, 1990.Vulcan
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