Declinations

[Kannon McAfee]

I decided to keep this thread general in spite of the specific example I'm using.

Declination is designated + for north (+1*00') or 1N00 for 1 degree north, or - (+1*00')  for south or 1S00.

Today my prog Moon 20LEO30 [15N56] exactly parallels my prog Mercury 24TAU54 [15N56]. Normally these sign are thought of as square and at odds. Not necessarily. A parallel functions to create fusion and unity much like a conjunction.

My wife's natal Moon 21LEO56 [10N44] parallels my natal Jupiter 0SCO53 [10S14]. Obviously, Moon-Jupiter in synastry works out pretty well, but these could be any others in fixed signs.

Side-by-side sign pairs can also hold points in parallels of declination:  Gemini-Cancer (20-23+ north) and Sag-Cap (20-23+ south). These signs are often said by astrologers such as Robert Hand to have "nothing in common." However, this still does not affect the fusion/unity effect of points/planets in parallel across these sign boundaries.

Steve Forrest is a bit ahead of the pack of professional astrologers (or at least authors) who rely heavily on the tropical zodiac for interpretation, but we still have a ways to go in acknowledging in our charts that the sky is indeed 'round' and not on a flat, east-west only plane. His The Book of the Moon brought declinations out into the mainstream.

The importance of checking declinations especially comes into play especially when Pluto is used as a rectification factor correlating to times of personal transformation or decisive change. Pluto's plane of orbit is significantly tilted off the general plane of all the other planets, so in declination is quite off from where you'd expect based on its longitude/sign position. After it has entered the sign of Libra instead of also dropping into south declination it remains in north declination

On 8 August 1974 when U.S. President Nixon resigned due to the impeachment proceedings over the watergate scandal, Pluto was at 4LIB52, but 13N03 declination. It did not drop into south declination until 12 November 1987 when its longitude pos was 10SCO19, 40 degrees arc after most other planets.

[Alice Portman]

I have used declinations since the beginning of my astrological studies and always found them very accurate.

As you have mentioned, synastry declinations work extremely well.  Perhaps you could check out the  Secondary and Tertiary progressed declinations when you both met, these are often fascinating.  For example, my husband had a SP Moon-Venus parallel when we met, which was also parallel my natal Moon.  I had a Secondary Progressed Moon-Venus parallel as well, which was parallel my husband's natal Venus parallel Saturn.

Another powerful use of declinations is in the chart of a country and the chart of its King, Prime Minister or President.  I have written a bit about this here: http://aliceportman.com/australia-election-julia-gillard-and-tony-abbott-in-relation-to-australias-chart/  when I was covering the very tight Australian election of 2010 which Gillard won.  Abbott subsequently won the 2013 election and the declination of his Secondary Progressed Sun had moved to parallel  Australia's Sun-Jupiter-Mercury rolling parallel.   

I have come to the conclusion that a Prime Minister or President isn't elected unless he or she has strong declination connections to the chart of the country and/or the original Swearing-In or Oath Taking chart.

Alice

[Don Borkowski]

Thank you, Alice.  I would like your opinion about contra-parallels.  I've heard three different schools of thought about them.  I. There is no difference, as compared to a regular parallel.  II. If a regular parallel is read like a conjunction, a contra-parallel is read like an opposition.  III. They are read like quincunxes.

~Don B.

[Robineli]

Alice and Kannon,

Would you consider progressed declinations that form an exact parallel to function in the same way as a Solar Arc, as in an event occurring? Or would it translate to a state of mind at a climax? 

What is your take on Saturn and Pluto progressing into exact declination, specifically?

Robineli

[Flipper]

Would you consider progressed declinations that form an exact parallel to function in the same way as a Solar Arc, as in an event occurring? Or would it translate to a state of mind at a climax?  

What is your take on Saturn and Pluto progressing into exact declination, specifically?

Robineli

I don't look at them like Solar Arcs for triggering events (that doesn't mean it won't work) but if you have two planets in aspect, and they are also in parallel, it makes the contact stronger (this applies to progressions as well). This is the reason I feel that conjunctions are so powerful, because they are conjunct in longitude and latitude. And even if two planets are not aspect to each other, you shouldn't overlook them because they're quite intense and can modify things considerably. For example, if you have Mars square Saturn in your chart, and no aspect between Mars and the Sun, but Mars is parallel the Sun, I would say your Mars isn't quite as "bad" because of the parallel to the Sun. But conversely, if Mars is square Saturn and they are in aspect by declination, then you have a very, very, powerful aspect, either by transit or progression.

I interpret declinations like a conjunction if they're parallel, and like an opposition if they're contra-parallel.

If you want to read up on it more, I suggest you read the book, The Best of Charles Jayne (although I don't know if it's still in print).

[Alice Portman]

Alice and Kannon,

Would you consider progressed declinations that form an exact parallel to function in the same way as a Solar Arc, as in an event occurring? Or would it translate to a state of mind at a climax?  

What is your take on Saturn and Pluto progressing into exact declination, specifically?

Robineli

I have always found  they describe events - like the secondary progressed Moon parallel Venus both my and my future husband had at the time we met.  If there was a secondary progressed Moon conjunct Venus one would expect a very pleasant time and this was also the case with the parallel.

I am not sure how your SP Saturn and Pluto moving into exact declination will work for you, check out what happens if another planet triggers it by transiting to that declination or if you meet people who have natal planets on that declination. Magi astrologers say this gives ability in teaching and research.

I tend to think that declination parallels manifest real life situations and events very well.

Don:

 to me contraparallels seem to bring other people into the story who act as a focus of some kind.  E.g. our current Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has a natal Mars-Chiron-Neptune contraparallel Australia's radix Mars (which gave me a great deal of anxiety when I first saw it)  and he is causing a lot of problems with Indonesia through turning back refugee boats trying to get to Australia that leave from their shores.   This declination configuration fits so well with the real life situation, particularly as Neptune is currently at 10S44, parallel Abbott's configuration and contraparallel Australia's Mars.  Mercury will be triggering this declination most of February so we can expect a great deal of communication about the issue.

Alice

[Robineli]

Alice,

Thank you for your reply.  I'll keep a lookout for the transiting declinations - so far, Jupiter will reach the same declination within days of the exact progression, which is a year from now.  Saturn and Pluto can come across in intense fashion.  Prior to posting my query, I checked through multiple charts and noticed a correlation between the progressed declination parallels and general energy levels in the natives.  One experiencing Mars and Jupiter progressing into a parallel is working vigorously at his job - 4-5 hours of sleep per night.  Another recently experienced great success and publicity as a freelancer and blogs and tweets continuously about business matters - he currently has a progressed parallel of Sun, Saturn, and Node.

Keira,

That's very interesting to note the connections between mundane events and the declinations.

Robineli

[Kannon McAfee]

Alice and Kannon,

Would you consider progressed declinations that form an exact parallel to function in the same way as a Solar Arc, as in an event occurring? Or would it translate to a state of mind at a climax? 

What is your take on Saturn and Pluto progressing into exact declination, specifically?

Robineli

Progressed declinations in exact or near exact Parallel (orb=0*05' or less/five minutes) do indeed signal a window of opportunity for action or efforts culminating to fruition. Just as much so as any type of progression or solar arc in longitude.

In my highly detailed rectification work and in regular consults with clients, and in years of study of declinations, this is unequivocal. The planets' movements on the declinational north/south axis are just as important, just as active as in east/west longitude axis. You can't properly locate a planet using only one. In fact, because declination aspects last longer in near exact positions, especially around the extremes of 22+, in many charts they are more important than the longitude positions.

The Saturn parallel Pluto progression:  it depends on the motion of the planets; is Saturn progressing towards the Pluto position? If Saturn is in a stationary pos or moving slower (in other words if the action is from Pluto towards Saturn) then the orb needs to be 0*01' or 00' ... Assuming this is the usual Saturn applying to Pluto dynamic, then the or can be 04' (four minutes). This brings into focus power fused with tacit control in one's life, depending on whether the planets are in north or south declination. For parallels, normally happening on the same side of the celestial equator, this focus comes into play with more outward/wordly focus on the north (+) side and a more personal one on the south (-) side. The +north has more 'active charge to it, the -south a negative. For most this distinction may not be terribly important.

Keira,

Your observations regarding extreme positions of Pluto and Uranus related to world events are very fitting and is one of the ways to really sit up and take notice of this second axis of planetary movement. Watching declinations takes more time and is inconvenient, but this is really because our charting methods are 'flat sky' - out of date.

[Flipper]

The orbs suggested by Charles Jayne are as follows:

Declination (Degree.min)           Orb (Degree.Min.Sec)

1.12                                      1.11.30

5.36                                      1.10.00

10.00                                     1.05.00

14.24                                      0.58.00

18.48                                      0.45.00

23.12                                      0.10.30

Your mileage may vary.

[Halina]

Hi Keira, I tried to buy it everywhere, out-of-print.  The best book out there is "Beyond the Solstice by Declination" by Leigh Westin.   I just ordered it from Astrology Center of America, $29.  You can read a full page review of the book there.   The owner of the store rates the book "Hands down the best book available on declinations."    The author Westin uses Kt Boher principles.    Even this book is hard to find, finally found it at Astrology Center of America.

[Alice Portman]

I bought Kt Boehrer's book on Declination Equivalent  a few years ago because I thought transferring declination measurements to longitude zodiac measurements was really odd and wanted to follow her reasoning.

Declinations are the measurement of planets from the equator and zodiac longitude is the measurement of planets along the ecliptic - two very, very different things and I couldn't understand how she could make one fit the other, or even why she wanted to.

What she did was take the declination of the planet and then put it in the zodiac longitude of the position of the Sun if it was in the same declination.

Using an example from the position of Mars today: 
Mars is at 6S58 declination and zodiac longitude of 24Libra09.  KT would then check the zodiac longitude of the Sun at 6S58 declination and see that it was 17Libra47.   She would then make this degree of zodiac longitude the longitude equivalent of Mars.  She would do this for all the planets and then check out the aspects between them  

Another example for today is Sun-Venus within a degree of declination but Venus is in Capricorn and the Sun is in Aquarius.   With Kt's longitude equivalent system Venus would be at 16Aquarius11 and the Sun at 15Aquarius52.  She would then work out longitude aspects to Venus from this position that are just imaginary.

To me this makes absolutely no sense at all!  It just isn't real and I still can't understand why she wanted to do it, or why anyone would want to waste their time working with a system that isn't based on any form of reality.

Alice

[Halina]

Hi Keira, Your Marie Trintignant example needs some explaining.   I am using Solar Fire....you say..."look at the L.E. Chart we see tr Uranus square her Sun-Venus conjunction..."   Ok I went to Solar Fire, Charts and pulled up her L.E. chart where Sun is at 0Aquarius00 and Venus is at 24Cap44, DEFINITELY NOT A CONJUNCTION.   Furthermore I created a transit chart for the murder date and got Tr Uranus 1Pisces53.    So, tr Uranus is DEFINITELY NOT SQUARE HER SUNS-VENUS CONJUNCTION.   Would you mind showing how you got what you got?   Solar Fire will NOT CALCULATE TRANSITS TO A L.E. CHART.   Nor does Solar Fire calculate Solar Arcs to a L.E. Chart, you have to do it by HAND.
      You say pull up her L.E. chart, then put transits for it in the outer wheel, and you should get Uranus in the 6th House.  No, it's in the 10th House.  Please end the confusion.  Below is the L.E. chart and transits outside.
      Do we use L.E. for Marie or L.E. for death transits or both.  This is really confusing.

[Halina]

Hi Keira, Ok, I have done what you said and posted the biwheel below.   I still don't get Tr Uranus L.E. conj her natal Sun-Venus, NOR do I get tr Uranus in the 6th House.

[Halina]

OK Keira, I finally got what you got.  Please, in the future say something like this...in a biwheel, put her natal inside, and the antiscion L.E. chart for murder transit in the outer wheel.  Thank you.

[Halina]

Hi Keira, thank you for sharing your research on this fascinating topic with us.