instead of the meridian. It is considered by some authorities to be equally powerful.
Horoscope. Strictly speaking the Ascendant, since it is based upon the "hour." As generally
employed it refers to the Figure, or Map of the Heavens, for a given date and hour, utilized by
astrologers for the judgment of a Nativity and for predictions in Mundane and Horary
Astrology; also delineations based thereon.
Hour Angle. The angle between the great circle that passes through the poles, and that which
bisects a specific point in the heavens; expressed in hours, as indicating the interval of time
before or after its transit of the meridian, at the rate of 15° p.h.
Hours. v. Planetary Hours.
Houses. An astrological Figure is divided into 12 arcs, equal either in terms of space or time.
If in terms of space the arcs are of 30° each, one twelfth of the circle of 360°.
If these begin at 0° Aries they are known as the Signs of the Zodiac, from Aries to Pisces, and
represent subdivisions of the orbit of the Earth round the Sun. As such they are Signs, not
Houses. They bear no relation to the constellations after which they were anciently named,
but are measured from the Spring equinoctial point.
If the subdivision begins at a given moment, and each represents the celestial arc that passes
over the horizon in 2 hours - one twelfth of the time required for one complete rotation - the
divisions are known as Houses.
In considering the divisions of the Figure as consisting of Signs, the Figure is deemed to
stand still while one contemplates the actual motions of the planets in their orbits round the
Sun, in a counter-clockwise direction. In considering the divisions as Houses, the observer
deems the planets to stand still while the Figure (representing the Earth) rotates in a counter-
clockwise direction, thus causing the planets to appear to move in a clockwise direction at a
uniform rate, one after another passing from below the horizon to above it, and on through the
Midheaven to the Descendant, just as the Sun rises and sets.
There are also Solar Houses - subdivisions of a Figure which, because the moment of
inception, otherwise "birth-moment," is unknown - cast with the Sun's degree at Greenwich