Moderators. A term applied by Placidus and Ptolemy to the Significators: Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Mid-heaven and
Fortuna. It implied that aspects from the Significators moderate or condition the influences of the planets, producing a
different "mode of motion" in the rays reflected. The term has largely passed into disuse.
Modus Rationalis. A term applied by Regiomontanus to his method of locating the cusps of the intermediate Houses -
those which lie between the angular Houses of a Figure - by dividing the Ecliptic by the Equator instead of the semi-
arc. Its division into twelve equal parts was accomplished by circles, the cusps located where the circles cut the plane
of the Ecliptic. The method has been superceded by one employing Oblique Ascension under the Poles of the Houses
for all but the 4th and 10th cusps. v. House Division.
Moisture. Said to increase when planets are matutine, when the Moon is in her First Quarter, during the winter, and by
night.
Monad. In occult terminology, it signifies Nature's pattern for each species, with special reference to differences
between contrasting characteristics. In Greek philosophy, a unit; individual; atom. According to Giordano Bruno, a
miscroscopic embodiment of the Divine essence which pervades and constitutes the universe.
Month. One of the twelve major subdivisions of the year. The names of the months are of great antiquity, and
although they have in more than one sense lost their original significance, they continue to survive as a part of our
common language. Originally they were intended to represent the twelve arcs of the Earth's annual revolution in orbit
about the Sun, and thus were comparable to the arcs we now know as the Astrological or Astronomical Signs of the
Zodiac. The original significance of the months is as follows:
January. A month of 31 days, the first in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It was named after Janus, the ancient
Roman deity who presided over gates and doors, hence all beginnings. He was represented with two faces, turned in
opposite directions, to indicate how every ending is also a beginning. He was propitiated at the beginning of every
important undertaking. Both A. B. Cook and J. G. Frazer identify Janus as Jupiter, and indicate that he looked both
ways to give better protection to the house over which he stood guard. January 1st was made the beginning of the year
in England with the statutory adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, before which date the year began on March
- Nevertheless, it was in the Temple of Janus that Saturn sought refuge in times of peace.
February. A month of 28 days, except when increased by one intercalary day on bissextile or leap years; the second
month of the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It was not contained in the Romulian calendar, and was said to have been
introduced in to the Roman calendar by Numa in 713 B.C., as the eleventh month. January and February were
transposed by the decemvirs in 452 B.C., making it the twelfth month. The name was derived from Februare, to purify,
from which came Februa, the festival of expiation, celebrated at the end of the month, during which the women were
"purified" by the priests. By the Anglo-Saxons it was caged Sprout - Kale, as the cabbage-sprouting season. The two
martyred Saints Valentine who died on the same day in the reign of Claudius, determined February 14th as St.
Valentine's day, but the modern celebration of it as a lover's festival appears to be purely accidental.
March. A month of 31 days, the third in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the first in the Roman calendar. It was
named in honor of Mars, god of war, the reputed father of Romulus, who was traditionally believed to have compiled
the first calendar. However, Ovid says the month existed before the time of Romulus. It was the beginning of the legal
year in France until 1564, when by decree Charles IX made the year begin in January. Scotland followed this example
in 1599, but in England it continued to begin in March until the 18th century. At that time the first three days, the
"blind" or "borrowed" days, were deemed so unlucky that no English or Scottish farmer would sow seed on these days.