Its rotation period has never been established because of the layer of clouds in which it is perpetually
enveloped. Its period has been variously estimated at from 68 hours to 225 days. Its axis is inclined to its orbit
plane at an angle of 5 degrees. Its low albedo, or reflecting power (.59), is due to this constant cloud covering.
The periods when it is a Morning and Evening Star are of about 10 months' duration each.
Transits over the Sun are rare and occur only when the Sun is within 1°45' of the node, with the Earth also at
the node. Though infrequent, they come in pairs. The last such transits occurred in 1874 and 1882. It will not
recur until June 8, 2004 and June 6, 2012. The duration of such a transit is about 8 hours.
Solar System Bodies: Earth.
The planet we inhabit. Astrologically, the Earth is the center of its universe, since one is concerned not with the
position of the planets in reference to the Sun, but with the angle from which their reflected frequencies enter
into the experience of those who dwell upon the Earth. When one speaks of the Sun's position he is but
expressing the position of the Earth in its orbit in terms of the apparent position of the Sun. The Earth's orbit is
an ellipse, of an eccentricity of about 1:60 - but which is slowly diminishing. Its longest diameter is its major
axis. Its half length, or semi-axis, taken as the Mean distance from the Earth to Sun, amounts to about
92,900,000 miles. At perihelion the Earth is more than three million miles closer to the Sun than at aphelion; or
about 3% of the maximum distance. The velocity of the Earth in its orbit is approximately 18.5 miles per
second.
The Precession of the Equinoctial Point amounts to 360 degrees in about 24,800 years. The Earth's rotation
appears to be slowing down at a rate which if continued will amount to 1 second in about 120,000 years.
The common center around which the Earth and the Moon revolve has been computed to be about 3000 miles
from the Earth's center - or 1000 miles below the crust of the Earth. That this point is a variable one has been
used by some as a basis for a computation based on the assumption that as this point approaches the surface of
the Earth there result phenomena known as Earthquakes. The Earth curves from a straight line at the rate of
about 1/9th of a degree per second. Its Diameter at the poles is 7900 m.; at the Equator, 7926 m.
The inclination of its axis to the Ecliptic, 66°33'.
Solar System Bodies: Mars. The nearest planet to the Earth, and frequently visible, it may be recognized
through the distinct reddish hue of its ray. Mars was known as Ares, the god of war; and as Nimrod, the god of
the chase, whose mission it was apparently to dispel terror and fear. To the Greeks, it was Pyrois, the fire. The
Romans celebrated the festival of Mars in March, before an altar in the Campus Martius. From it comes our
word martial, war like - as martial music. To the Chaldeans it was Nergal, called the "raging king" and the
"furious one"; to the Babylonians, the god of war and pestilence, said to preside over the nether-world. For the
Alchemists, it represented Iron. Mars has two satelites: Deimos, 6 miles in diameter, distant from Mars by 6.9
radii; and Phoetus, with a revolutionary period of 7h 39M. Deimos has a sidereal period of 30h 18m. Phoetus
makes 1330 eclipses a year.