Talking on eggshells

Which house system best describes our outer/inner selves? Plus, Elisabeth tells a dumb Dad joke

vol. 2 patron episode 2

‘Talking on eggshells’ as we sort out modern psychological astrology from Hellenistic. Credit: Tengyart.

Greetings,

Behind the scenes, in an effort to deliver a concise answer to the question many of our listeners have asked about why Elisabeth uses Placidus houses and I use whole sign houses in our respective natal astrology practices, our discussion continues.

For those of you who are not at all interested in the actual nuts and bolts of astrology, a general thing to keep in mind is that astrology is like any field of expertise. There are many subspecialities and competing perspectives on what should be the prevailing theory.

In the past 30 or so years, as a multiplicity of ancient texts on astrology and astronomy have surfaced and been translated from Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Arabic, among others, a heretofore relatively unknown house system that was developed in the Hellenistic world is in the ascendent, upending the predominate use of a so-called “traditional” Western system dating back to medieval and Renaissance times.

The gap created between these two systems had a lot to do with astrology needing to go underground to survive the Roman Empire’s merger and acquisition of Christianity and subsequent outrage over whatever delivered power to the people (oh, was I editorializing? Sorry).

When the astrology that developed in the Mediterranean once again emerged from where it had been hiding in Islam and India, European scholars of the day — that is to say, primarily monks — began to tinker with it again, coming up with new house systems based on the manuscripts — some partial, others complete — they were rediscovering.

One of those clever monks was Placidus de Titis (1603–1668), who created a way of tracking the planets to the natal chart based on a series of arcs to the horizon made by the sun in a 24-hour period. His methods were subsequently published, while others were not, making his accessible and because they proved accurate, popular.

But, new knowledge makes for new approaches, new questions. And the world of astrology is aflame in this new era of enlightenment. Compelling evidence has emerged showing that the Greeks and other thinkers of the pan-Hellenistic age had a complete perspective on the cosmos, with spirituality as expressed through humanity at its core. That moves me. That makes me want to engage.

For me, the accuracy of the houses is the not the issue. I found Placidus in natal charts works great. It is that complete cosmology of the Hellenistic system circa 350 BCE,