Tropical Astrology

Jamie Michelle

June 16, 2022

To Urania, our heavenly muse.

Originally published at the Internet Archive on June 11, 2020, ark:/

13960/t0wq8t60r

. Herein revised on June 16, 2022. This

document is released under Version 3.0 of the "Attribution (By)" Creative Commons license and/or Version 1.3 of the GNU Free

Documentation License.

Zodiac

Order

Sign

Meaning

Referent

Symbol

Constellation

Sign Ruler

(Domicile)

Starts

Classical

Element

Alchemical

Process

1

Aries

Ram

the golden-

fleeced ram

that rescued

Phrixus and

Helle

♈

Aries

Mars

on the

northward

equinox

fire (



)

calcination

2

Taurus

Bull

the form that

Zeus took in

order to seduce

Europa

♉

Taurus

Venus

1/3

between

the

northward

equinox

and the

northern

solstice

earth (



)

congelation

3

Gemini

Twins

Castor and

Pollux

♊

Gemini

Mercury

2/3

between

the

northward

equinox

and the

northern

solstice

air (



)

fixation

4

Cancer

Crab

the giant crab

that Heracles

killed

♋

Cancer

Moon

on the

northern

solstice

water

(



)

dissolution

(



,



)

5

Leo

Lion

the Nemean

lion that

Heracles killed

♌

Leo

Sun

1/3

between

the

northern

solstice

and the

fire (



)

digestion

southward

equinox

6

Virgo

Virgin

Astraea

♍

Virgo

Mercury

2/3

between

the

northern

solstice

and the

southward

equinox

earth (



)

distillation

(



)

7

Libra

Balance

the scales of

justice held by

Astraea, Dike,

Themis and

Justitia

♎

Libra

Venus

on the

southward

equinox

air (



)

sublimation

(



,

☊

)

8

Scorpio

Scorpion

the giant

scorpion that

killed Orion

♏

Scorpius

Mars

1/3

between

the

southward

equinox

and the

southern

solstice

water

(



)

separation

9

Sagittarius

Archer

the satyr Krotos

♐

Sagittarius

Jupiter

2/3

between

the

southward

equinox

and the

southern

solstice

fire (



)

ceration

10

Capricorn

Horned

Goat

the sea-goat

form that Pan

took in order to

escape Typhon

♑

Capricornus

Saturn

on the

southern

solstice

earth (



)

fermentation

(



)

11

Aquarius

Water-

Carrier

Ganymede

♒

Aquarius

Saturn

1/3

between

the

southern

solstice

and the

northward

equinox

air (



)

multiplication

12

Pisces

Fishes

the

ichthyocentaurs

Aphros and

Bythos who

carried

Aphrodite from

the sea

♓

Pisces

Jupiter

2/3

between

the

southern

solstice

and the

northward

equinox

water

(



)

projection

Note that astrology's influence upon individuals is real, although its effects upon humans is not based upon the distant stars,

but rather the seasonal effects of the Sun. This of course means that the effects of the Sun's seasonal variance upon humans

(particularly during gestation, of which has lasting lifelong consequences upon one's personality and upon one's

susceptibility to various diseases) are diminished (though not eliminated) the closer one is to the equator; while these yearly

effects are reversed for the Southern Hemisphere as compared with the Northern Hemisphere (since the seasons are reversed

for said hemispheres). For some details on this, see the following papers:

Gabriele Doblhammer and James W. Vaupel,

"Lifespan depends on month of birth"

,

Proceedings of the National Academy

of Sciences of the United States of America

(

PNAS

), Vol. 98, No. 5 (Feb. 27, 2001), pp. 2934-2939,

doi:

10.1073/pnas.041431898

; also available

here

and

here

.

Christopher M. Ciarleglio, John C. Axley, Benjamin R. Strauss, Karen L. Gamble and Douglas G. McMahon,

"Perinatal

photoperiod imprints the circadian clock"

,

Nature Neuroscience

, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan. 2011), pp. 25-27, doi:

10.1038/nn.2699

;

also available

here

and

here

.

"Supplement"

; also available

here

and

here

.

Zoltan Rihmer, Peter Erdos, Mihaly Ormos, Konstantinos N. Fountoulakis, Gustavo Vazquez, Maurizio Pompili and Xenia

Gonda,

"Association between affective temperaments and season of birth in a general student population"

,

Journal of

Affective Disorders

, Vol. 132, Nos. 1-2 (July 2011), pp. 64-70, doi:

10.1016/j.jad.2011.01.015

; also available

here

and

here

.

Mary Regina Boland, Zachary Shahn, David Madigan, George Hripcsak and Nicholas P. Tatonetti,

"Birth month affects

lifetime disease risk: a phenome-wide method"

,

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association

, Vol. 22, No. 5

(Sept. 2015), pp. 1042-1053, doi:

10.1093/jamia/ocv046

; also available

here

and

here

. See also the following related

diagram:

"Birth Month and Disease Incidence in 1.7 Million Patients"

, Tatonetti Lab (Columbia University Medical

Center), ca. June 8, 2015; also available

here

and

here

.

Classical Planets

Order

Name

Symbol

Roman

Deity

Greek

Deity

Norse

Deity

Mesopotamian

Deity

Hindu

Deity

Day of the

Week

Metal

1

Sun

☉

Sol

Helios;

Apollo

Sól

Utu/Shamash

Surya

Sunday (1)

gold (aurum, Au;

atomic number:

79; group: 11;

period: 6)

2

Mercury

☿

Mercury

Hermes;

Apollo

Odin

Nisaba; Nabu

Budha

Wednesday

(4)

mercury

(hydrargyrum, Hg;

atomic number:

80; group: 12;

period: 6)

3

Venus

♀

Venus

Aphrodite

Frigg

Inanna/Ishtar

Shukra

Friday (6)

copper (cuprum,

Cu; atomic

number: 29;

group: 11; period:

4)

4

Moon

☽

Luna;

Diana

Selene;

Artemis

Máni

Nanna/Sīn

Chandra

Monday (2)

silver (argentum,

Ag; atomic

number: 47;

group: 11; period:

5)

5

Mars

♂

Mars

Ares

Týr

Nergal

Mangala

Tuesday (3)

iron (ferrum, Fe;

atomic number:

26; group: 8;

period: 4)

6

Jupiter

♃

Jupiter

Zeus

Thor

Marduk

Bṛhaspati;

Indra

Thursday

(5)

tin (stannum, Sn;

atomic number:

50; group: 14;

period: 5)

7

Saturn

♄

Saturn

Cronus

Njord

Ninurta/Ninĝirsu

Shani

Saturday

(7)

lead (plumbum,

Pb; atomic

number: 82;

group: 14; period:

6)

The ancient world's concept of planet was as a wondering star (ἀστήρ πλανήτης, astēr planētēs), i.e., a regularly-occurring

light in the sky (a "star") which unlike the many fixed stars of the celestial sphere, moved across said fixed stars in regular

patterns (as opposed to, say, meteors, which were thought of as shooting stars, or falling stars). According to the

Oxford

English Dictionary

's entry for "planet", referring to the ancients, "The seven planets, in the order of their accepted distance

from the Earth, were the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn." (See John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C.

Weiner [Eds.],

The Oxford English Dictionary

[Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 2nd ed., 1989].) The classical planets were

variously also called the Seven Stars, or the Seven Luminaries.

The ancient Greeks initially thought that Mercury was two different planets: they named it Apollo when visible in the

morning; and Hermes when visible in the evening. Later the Greeks realized that these seemingly two different planets were

actually the same planet, and they kept the name Hermes for it. Apollo later came to be identified with the Sun.

Additionally, the ancient Greeks initially thought that Venus was two different planets: they named it Phosphorus when

visible in the morning; and Hesperus when visible in the evening. Again, eventually the Greeks realized that these seemingly

two different planets were actually the same planet, and they then associated it with the goddess Aphrodite. Coming later, the

ancient Romans knew that Venus in its Morning Star and Evening Star appearances was actually a single planet, but when

wishing to specify which appearance aspect they were referring to, called the morning appearance Lucifer, and the evening

appearance Vesper (the Roman equivalents of their Greek counterparts); while their general name for the planet was Venus,

the Roman version of Aphrodite.

Due to the ancient conception of a planet as being a wondering star, often when wishing to specify that they were referring to

the planet rather than the actual god/goddess, the ancients would refer to it as, e.g., the Star of Aphrodite, etc.

Modern Planets

Order

Name

Symbol

Sidereal Orbit

Period

Orbital Eccentricity

Sidereal Rotation

Period

Axial Rotation

in Relation to

the Sun

Number

of Moons

1

Mercury

☿

87.969257 SI

day

0.2056302929816634

58.6463 SI day

prograde

0

2

Venus

♀

224.70079922 SI

day

0.006755786250503024

243.018484 SI day

retrograde

0

3

Earth



,

♁

365.256363004

SI day

0.01670236221760735

0.9972695663290843

SI day

prograde

1

4

Mars

♂

686.98 SI day

0.09331510156759697

1.02595675 SI day

prograde

2

5

Jupiter

♃

4332.589 SI day

0.04877487712602974

0.41353831 SI day

prograde

79

6

Saturn

♄

10755.698 SI

day

0.05572339502033634

0.4440093 SI day

prograde

82

7

Uranus

♅

,

⛢

30685.4 SI day

0.04440556667821134

0.718333 SI day

retrograde

27

8

Neptune

♆

60189 SI day

0.01121522948737634

0.67125 SI day

prograde

14

The foregoing table's orbital parameters are taken from the below National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA)

Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System (except for the Earth's orbit and rotation periods, which are taken from the below

section's IERS citation). To use the website-interface to obtain ephemeris data for Mercury, select Ephemeris Type: Orbital

Elements; Target Body: Mercury; Center: @sun; and Time Span: 2000-01-01 12:00 to 2000-01-02, with Step Size: 1 day (the Step

Size simply needs to be longer than the two Time Span parameters, otherwise one gets multiple ephemeris datasets, each at

the interval of the Step Size). To obtain data for other planets, change the Target Body parameter to the desired planet. The