ing, destabilizing aspects in a natal chart. They demand attention and inner work if
they are ever to manifest positively.Sources:
Hand, Robert. Horoscope Symbols.Rockport, MA: Para Research, 1981.
Sakoian, Frances, and Louis S. Acker. The Astrologer’s Handbook.New York: Harper & Row,
1989.STANDARDTIME
Before the advent of rapid travel and modern means of long-distance communication,
particular localities kept time according to the noontime position of the Sun. Because
this varied east or west of any given location, the local time also varied as one traveled
east or west. The imposition of today’s standard time zones, in which one must set her
or his watch forward or backward as an imaginary line is crossed, is a comparatively
recent innovation. To properly cast a horoscope, astrologers must find the “true” local
time at which a native was born. In other words, a birth time expressed in standard
time must be converted back into local “Sun time.” The more common designation
for Sun time is local mean time.STA R
A star is a self-luminous celestial body. Although not usually thought of in these
terms, the Sun is also a star. Self-luminosity distinguishes stars from planets, which
shine by virtue of reflected light. The ancients did not make this distinction but
instead referred to the planets as wandering (the etymological meaning of the word
planet) stars, and to the stars proper as fixed stars.STA R O FBETHLEHEM
One of the few biblical accounts in which the practice of astrology can be unambigu-
ously perceived is the story of the three wise men. The Magi were clearly astrologers,
and the Star of Bethlehem, as scholars have long pointed out, was actually a major
planetary conjunction involving Jupiter and Saturn. The ancients referred to these
two celestial bodies as chronocrators—literally, the “rulers of time.” Before the discov-
ery of Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn were the slowest-moving of the known planets. As a
consequence, their interacting cycles—particularly their conjunctions every 20
years—were taken to mark off longer epochs of time. Around the time of Jesus’ birth,
this 20-year conjunction occurred in the sign Pisces, which was the sign of the “age”
Earth was believed to be entering (by reason of the phenomenon known as the preces-
sion of equinoxes). The Magi believed, as do many people today, that Earth was on
the verge of entering a “new age,” and this particular conjunction was taken to indi-
cate the birth of a new world teacher for the age of Pisces.Sources:
Jacobs, Don. Astrology’s Pew in the Church.San Francisco: The Joshua Foundation, 1979.Standard Time
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