Interference in Hellenistic Astrology
Astrologers are familiar with Ptolemaic aspect doctrine. Over the past century, however, many configurations that do not constitute aspects in the traditional geometrical sense have also been attributed with astrological meanings. Those who study deeply the Hellenistic and medieval texts certainly we will understand aversion as a consequence of geometry, but it also speaks to a broader philosophical principle that not every portion of the chart, nor every planetary body, is able to speak with each other.
As a matter of fact, even those planets that speak with one another may encounter something called intervention, or interference which is what I will discuss in this essay. The foundation of this essay relates to my earlier post on “Transmission of rays”.
Main stream Hellenistic astrologers like Porphyry of Tyre, Hephaestio of Thebes and Rhetorius of Egypt discuss the idea of an intervention occurring within an application. We are generally familiar with the idea of one planet applying to another body. For instance, the Moon applying to Jupiter in Cancer constitutes an applying conjunction. According to the ancient astrologers, we must also look if another planet casts a ray into the degrees lying between the two applying planets called as “middle degrees”.
Let’s assume the Moon is at 10° Cancer and Jupiter at 15° Cancer. The five degrees between them form the intervening or middle degrees of the application. Now imagine Saturn at 12° Capricorn, casting an opposition to Cancer. Saturn’s ray falls exactly at 12° Cancer, directly between the Moon and Jupiter. This would mean that Saturn has entered the space through which the application must pass. This is interference.
This is a good place to bring in the idea of dṛṣṭi in Jyotiṣa. We commonly translate dṛṣṭi as “aspect”, but dṛṣṭi literally means seeing or gazing. The word “aspect” fails to convey something of the conceptual and philosophical depth contained in the idea of planetary sight that forms a configuration.
A conversation with my friend Meghna Bhagat (www.meghnabhagat.com) this morning brought me back to this idea of “gaze”. She offered a wonderfully simple analogy for understanding interference. Meghna said, “imagine two people having a private conversation. As they speak, a third person begins watching them”.
What follows is basically my answer to her which I did not say at that point, but occurred to me as I was pondering over this subject after the conversation.
The presence and gaze of this third person can interrupt the nature and flow of the conversation. The two people may still be speaking to one another, but their conversation is no longer entirely private or unmediated. Something else has entered the space between them. The intervention can also support, expand and make the conversation better that could lead to something productive.
The Moon and Jupiter in Cancer are in conversation with one another through their applying conjunction. Saturn in Capricorn casts its ray into the space between them. Saturn has entered their conversation.
The application remains, but it is no longer entirely unmediated. Saturn’s ray becomes part of the process through which the promise of Moon’s application to Jupiter might eventually come together without qualifying the intervention as good or bad.
Let us consider Frank Sinatra’s chart as an example to better understand the interference through aspectual rays.
With Libra rising, the Moon is at 5° Pisces and Jupiter at 19°52′ Pisces. The Moon is applying by conjunction to Jupiter, but the application is not allowed to proceed without interruption. Three planets cast rays into the space or “middle degrees” between the Moon and Jupiter: Venus at 11°55′ Capricorn casts a sextile to approximately 12° Pisces; Mercury at 17° Sagittarius casts a square to approximately 17° Pisces; and the Sun at 19°13′ Sagittarius casts a square almost exactly upon Jupiter’s degree. Saturn also participates in the intervention in its retrograde motion, but in this essay, I would like to focus on the interfering rays from the Sun, Mercury and Venus.
We can see this as: Moon 5° Pisces to Venus’ ray 12° Pisces to Mercury’s ray 17° Pisces to Sun’s ray 19° Pisces to Jupiter 19°52′ Pisces.
The Moon is still received by Jupiter in Pisces, and it also has a reception from Venus by sextile. The Moon is the ruler of the 10th house making it a significator of profession and public standing. Jupiter rules the 3rd and 6th houses. The application connects professional accomplishment with matters of communication, performance and work.
Frank Sinatra’s professional life was built around the voice: singing, phrasing, recording, radio, performance and eventually film and television. His public career became very successful, but the route by which the promise of the Moon reached Jupiter was not uninterrupted.
The first intervention comes from Venus, ruler of the Ascendant but also the exaltation ruler of Pisces, forming a reception (double reception in this case for the Moon). Venus as the lord of the 1st house speaks about the native himself that connects to the Venusian themes in his profession. Sinatra’s public identity became inseparable from his artistic persona. His voice, appearance, style, relationships and cultivated public image were all components of the public personality known as Frank Sinatra.
The next intervention comes from Mercury. Mercury rules the 9th and 12th houses and casts its square into the middle degrees immediately before Jupiter. Mercury’s symbolism is appropriate to a singer whose professional achievement depended upon language, diction, phrasing, timing and communication. Sinatra, besides his voice, became renowned for the personalised or a very typical manner in which he interpreted a song.
Finally, the Sun intervenes almost exactly at Jupiter’s degree. The Sun signifies prominence, visibility and distinction, and in this chart rules the 11th house. By the time the Moon’s application reaches Jupiter, it has passed through rays belonging to Venus, Mercury and the Sun.
This is important because interference should not necessarily be understood as cancellation because it certainly plays out different in different charts. There is no clear information about whether an intervention is a blemish or a benefit. From reading the Hellenistic and the Persian tradition, we can safely conclude that we need to look at the nuances of the interferences. Saturn indicates misery and limitations and that can be seen as a blemish. If Mars had intervened, it would have been much different since Mars indicates severance.
In Frank Sinatra’s chart, Venus’ intervention is a double reception since the Moon also has reception from Jupiter. It is worthy of noting that Saturn also intervenes by casting a trine aspect to the Jupiter-Moon conjunction which speaks to the problems and difficulties in his career—needless to say that Saturn is placed in the 10th house of Cancer therefore needing reception from the Moon. I will discuss more on Saturn’s role in Sinatra’s chart as a separate post.
After a lot of interventions, the Moon eventually reaches Jupiter; the promise is realised. But it is realised after being successively conditioned by other planets.
Sinatra’s career was not simply a straightforward realisation of musical talent. His professional identity developed through several overlapping forms of public activity: live performance (Sun), radio (Mercury), recordings (Mercury), film (Venus), television (Mercury) and later a highly developed celebrity persona (The Moon as the 10th ruler and Venus as the 1st ruler). His artistic career was also marked by periods of serious professional difficulty (Saturn) and reinvention of prominence.
The intervening rays can be understood as a factor that potentially modifes the manner in which the natal promise is perfected. An intervening ray does not necessarily cancel the promise contained of an applying aspect. I am seeing this as a possibility by which it may become part of the chain of transmission of rays or interference through which the promise is realised, introducing the significations and condition of another planet into the final outcome.
Jupiter’s intervention may bring support, increase or protection; Venus may introduce relational, artistic or material considerations; while Saturn may impose limitations, delays or conditions upon the manner in which the promise manifests.
In this case; Venus, Mercury and the Sun successively enter the application before the Moon reaches Jupiter. The final manifestation contains something of all four: the public and popular Moon, the artistic and personal Venus, the communicative Mercury, the prominence of the Sun, and the expansive Jupiter.
The result is the creation of a highly distinctive public persona in which voice, artistry, personal style, fame and professional reach became inseparable from one another.
Photo by LExie Blessing from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-and-brown-trees-photography-920930/
