College of Astrological Arts and Sciences. At this writing, she is serving a second
elected term as NCGR chair, and is also working on a new book and new paintings.
Simms, who has three grown daughters and two granddaughters, greatly enjoys the
serenity of a wooded rural property with plenty of room for family visitors. There she
has created a large stone circle garden with marker boulders at the cardinal and sol-
stice points dominated by a seven-foot monolith at Spring Equinox sunrise, as a per-
manent setting for her Circle gatherings.
Her books are Twelve Wings of the Eagle(1988); Dial Detective1988; 2d ed.,
2001); Search for the Christmas Star(1989); Your Magical Child(1994); Future Signs
(1996); The Witches Circle(1996); and A Time for Magick(2001).
SINGLETON
In a bucket (or funnel) chart, all of the planets but one are on one side of an astrologi-
cal chart. The isolated planet is called the handle or singleton.
SINISTER
Sinister, from a Latin term meaning left (not evil), refers to one of the many ways of
classifying the astrological aspects. The antonym is dexter (right). A sinister aspect
occurs when a faster-moving planet makes an aspect with a slower-moving one that is
located counterclockwise from it (to its left) in the zodiac. Even though astrologers
from Claudius Ptolemy onward have regarded sinister and dexter aspects as having
somewhat different influences, the differences are comparatively minor. In most gen-
eral chart readings, this distinction is ignored.
SISYPHUS
Sisyphus, asteroid 1,866 (the 1,866th asteroid to be discovered, on December 5,
1972), is approximately 7.6 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 2.6
years. Sisyphus was a mythological figure whose punishment in the underworld was to
roll a stone up a hill, only to have it roll back to the bottom, and then have to push it
up the hill, over and over again for eternity. According to Martha Lang-Wescott, Sisy-
phus represents “determination; dogged persistence; to start over (again or anew); to
repeat effort.” Jacob Schwartz gives this asteroid’s astrological significance as “deter-
mined action on hopeless or repetitive tasks, ‘returning to square one.’” This asteroid’s
key phrase is “start over.”
Sources:
Lang-Wescott, Martha. Asteroids-Mechanics: Ephemerides II.Conway, MA: Treehouse Moun-
tain, 1990.
———. Mechanics of the Future: Asteroids.Rev. ed. Conway, MA: Treehouse Mountain, 1991.
Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.
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Sisyphus