半六合

The Good Aspects are all based upon a threefold division of the circle of the zodiac, as in Diagram 6. ‘Thus the trine, 120°, is a third of the circle, the sextile, 60°, is half a trine, and the semi-sextile, 30°, half a sextile.The Evil Aspects represent the circle halved or quartered, as in Diagram 7. Thus the opposition, 180°, is half the circle, the square, 90°,is a quarter of the circle, and the semi-square, 45°, and sesquiquadrate, 135°, are respectively half a square and a square and a half.The question is certain to be asked here as to why the threefold and fourfold divisions of the circle should be the one good and the other evil? Ifa given planet, say Jupiter, is on the whole more good than evil, so far as its influence upon the inhabitants of this earth is concerned, why, even when it is in square to a given point in the horoscope, should its good side be entirely suppressed and only its evil side be allowed to manifest, so far as that point is concerned ?The question is not at all an easy one to answer, and we can do little more than indicate analogies. The religious philosophy of the mystic assures us that there is a basic three-fold mode of operation underlying the whole universe, and that it can be stated in terms of consciousness and in terms of force working through matter. The former aspect of it is seen in the continually recurring doctrine of the divine Trinity found in nearly all religions; and the latter side in the Hindu teaching as to the “three qualities” or modes of operation of force when involved in matter and termed Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva. If, then, three is the basic number underlying, permeating, creating and sustaining the whole universe, the astrological doctrine of the harmonious nature of those aspects based upon a three-fold division of the zodiac, falls into line with this general philosophy of things. We are apparently justified in conjecturing that the angle of 120° harmonises with the material constitution of the solar system and with the modes of operation of vitality, consciousness and force. ‘The evil aspects are based upon a wholly different mode of vibration, and start from numbers two and four instead of number three. It is philosophically impossible to suppose that there is such a thing as radical evil anywhere, evil deliberately planned and worked into the universal scheme of things by the Creator. All the evil we know of or can imagine is the result either of ignorance or of distorted free-will, which itself perhaps is only another name for a higher form of ignorance. Good is harmony, evil is discord. In music, two notes harmonise if their vibrations accord with one another; and if they do not, discord is the result. We seem, therefore, bound to suppose that aspects based upon the square represent clash, conflict and discord; and that the soul which finds itself surrounded by forces working in this fashion has itself created the discord from which it is now suffering. The effect, although temporarily painful, is spiritually good, because the soul learns by its own experience to distinguish between that which will produce discord and that which will produce harmony; so that the clash and conflict of opposition end in wisdom.

+ Vide Chapter xx. It of course follows that Saturn is in bis pro-' per face when he is five signs, or in quintile, after the Sun er befvre - the Moon; that Jupiter is so when in trine; Mars when in quartile ; Venus when in sextile; and Mercury when only one sign, (or, in modern phrase, in semi-sextile,) afte? the Sun or before the Moon.Chap. XXVI.] ProLeMy s TETRABIBLOS, | 55eee with the place which it actually occupies by two, or more, of the prescribed modes of connection: for when it is so circumstanced, its influence and energy .are specially augmented by the familiarity it thus holds with the sign which encompasses it, and which 1s similar in influence and co-operates with it.Lastly, each planet, (although it may possess no familia=rity with the sign encompassing it) is said to rejoice, when .