........1' (60")..........4 s.
Degree Rising. The degree of the zodiacal Sign posited on the Ascendant (q.v.), or cusp of
the First House at birth, and generally considered the most important in the Nativity. The
rising degree is based upon the exact moment of birth, or of the event for which the Figure is
cast, and the correct geographical latitude and longitude. Should either factor be unknown the
Figure is usually cast for sunrise, which places the Sun's degree upon the horizon, resulting in
what is termed a Solar Figure. As it is based only on the Earth's apparent motion around the
Sun some authorities term it a Heliard Figure.
Degrees, Individual. Several works, symbolical, speculative and statistical, treat of
influences presumed to repose in certain individual degrees. Maurice Wemyss in the four
volumes of his "Wheel of Life" even introduces some hypothetical and as yet undiscovered
planets to account for certain qualities and effects. It is probable that many of the qualities
ascribed to individual degrees have to do with sensitive points created by Eclipses, major
conjunctions, or a close conjunction in both longitude and latitude between a solar system
body and a fixed star, which points are accented by the transit of another planet at a later date.
For ready reference a list of such points is arranged in a zodiacal sequence, which includes:
(1) the degrees created by important stars, nebulae and clusters; (2) the planets' Nodes; (3) the
points of the planets' Exaltation and Fall; (4) the major planetary conjunctions from 1940 to
1946 inclusive; to which others can be added at will from the Ephemerides; (5) Solar
Eclipses, from 1940 to 1946, inclusive; and (6) such other degrees which from experience
appear to exert a decisive influence.
Individual Degree Tables (in following articles)
The stars listed in these tables of Individual Degrees are located as of 1925. To adjust them to
other dates add 5O 1/3" of longitude for each year later, or subtract for each year earlier.
(Apolo's Note: for 2003, 78 years later, this gives an addition to make of 65.4333', ie 1º5',
or approx. 1.1º.)
The ancients ascribed names to the various stars, and many of these names are still in use. In
16O3 Bayer devised a more scientific system whereby the stars in a constellation are known
by the name of the constellation to which they belong, the individual stars within the
constellation known by Greek letter prefixes, according to size, beginning with the largest as
Alpha, and continuing downward to Omega. The system is still in use, except for the
telescopic stars, of which a million have been classified, and these are identified by a
catalogue number.