Air Signs. The mental or intellectual signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius. Considered collectively,
sometimes termed the Air asterism.
Albedo. Literally, whiteness. A measure of the reflecting power of a planet, in ration to its
absorptive capacity; expressed in a figure which represents the amount of light reflected from an
unpolished surface in proportion to the total amount of light falling upon it.
The albedo of the Moon and Mercury is 7; Venus 59; Earth 44; and Mars 15. Thus, the
changeable character manifested by Moon and Mercury is seen to be connected in some way
with their low reflective capacity.
An entirely different set of Lunar characteristics comes of the fact that as the Moon approaches
an opposition to the Sun its surface temperature rises some 70-odd degrees above boiling point,
and in consequence it emits a wide band of infra-red frequencies that are several times more
powerful than any of the rays it reflects from the Sun. During the first few minutes of a Lunar
eclipse, the surface temperature falls to a sub-zero level and the infra-red emanation ceases.
The dimly-lit surface of the Moon at the Lunation is due to light reflected back from the Earth,
which with its high albedo would appear to the Moon-dweller as four times larger and many
times brighter than the Moon as seen from Earth.
There are some indications that Jupiter emits a ray of its own in addition to its reflected ray, but
astrophysicists are not as yet in accord on that point.
Almanac. A book or table containing a calendar of days, weeks and months, to which are added
astronomical or other data. Its use dates back at least to the Alexandrian Greeks. The Roman
almanac was the fasti - days on which business could be transacted.
The earliest of which we have concise record is that of Solomon Jarchus, 1150 A.D.. Purbach
published one from 1450-6. His pupil Regiomontanus issues the first printed almanac in 1475.
The most outstanding almanac maker of the Middle Ages was Nostradamus.
All English almanacs were prophetic until the year 1828; and until 1834 the stamp duty was
1s.3d. per copy. The first almanac in the U.S. was issued in 1639 by William Pierce. It was
exceeded in popularity by Poor Richard's Almanac (1732-57) issued by Benjamin Franklin.
Watkins Almanac, issued since 1868, has an annual circulation of upward of two million copies.
The chief Astrological Almanacs of the present epoch are 'Raphael's', first published in 1820,
and 'Zadkiel's', first published in 1830. All governments now issue an Ephemeris and a Nautical
almanac. See 'Ephemeris'.
Almuten. The planet of chief influence in a Nativity by virtue of essential and accidental
dignities. Its strength is estimated from: its intrinsic character; its Sign position where posited, its
own Sign, or the Sign in which it is in exaltation; its harmonious aspects from favoring planets;
and its elevated position in a geoarc Figure. A term of Arabian origin, seldom employed by