Introduction – 144 Templates
When viewing the calendar there is an unmistakable observation right from the start that no two days are the same. Not only are days not the same but within a single day there are a dozen placements for the starting point of the chart that dramatically alter what is indicated. There are even finer ways to slice it up, but it is these twelve daily variations that are the most important. This division into twelve mirrors the division of the sky into twelve “zodiacal signs” because it is following the rotation of the Earth through a given day. As the Earth rotates the sign that is on the eastern horizon changes approximately every two hours until it starts over as the next day begins. If you’ve ever cast a chart for your birth this is why the time of day was needed. What you may not have realized is that the precise time of your birth is the most important detail of your life as far the astrological calendar is concerned. In this series, we will learn why and what that means about you.
The sign that was rising when you were sent into this world remains the element through which you meet the world throughout your life. It is, for you, simply how things are. There are twelve signs and therefore twelve entirely different approaches to the world, distributed more or less evenly across the entire population. In the early 20th Century it became fashionable to interpret someone’s personality using the position of the Sun in one of these twelve signs, and that “sun sign astrology” continues to be the most common vector through which people in the 21st Century know “astrology.” This is a moderately useful tool but also one that intentionally limits its interpretive depth. To describe the core essence of a person it is the rising sign that is most useful, and in the historical and systematic practice of interpreting the calendar which has existed for thousands of years that is how it was done. Of course the people of this world present in more varied forms than twelve, and it is the second factor of zodiacal sign rulership which is necessary to properly engage in the task of categorizing people by a type.
According to the system, each zodiacal sign is under the authority, or “rulership,” of one of the planets. There exists an interesting structural rationale for this, but I’ve studied that for you already so let’s not get distracted with the complex how’s and why’s. What is important is that for each of the twelve zodiacal signs there is a planet whose own position determines the way that the sign it rules is expressed. The position of that planet, which can be in any of the twelve signs, acts as the key definer and modifier of the initial rising sign. The condition of a planet is known as its “dignity” and this tells us how powerful it is, how effective it is, and what approach is available to it for enacting its effect. The position of the ruling planet by sign is the primary factor in measuring “dignity” and doing so results in twelve distinct variations of each rising sign.
As there are twelve zodiacal signs and there are two separate placements which must be considered to determine the essence of the person, there are thus 144 total variations possible. Other factors (such as the position of the non-ruling planets) generate individual differences and produce the unique lives we know to exist, but it is the rising sign that defines what is real to the native. Think about making a large batch of cookies for a coming holiday party. You have twelve types of cookie dough, and twelve cookie-cutters which form that dough into a shape. In this way you can make cookies shaped like trees and snowmen but they can use gingerbread or oatmeal or chocolate chip dough. The type of dough is the rising sign, and the shape made by the cookie-cutter would be the ruling planet. After the cookies are baked you can decorate the trees and snowmen with colored frosting and designs in any manner you wish – those are the individual placements that make us unique – but no matter the color of the frosting the cookies is still a snowman made with gingerbread dough.
These 144 variations are in practice templates. They are a base formula upon which is built the life of the person. In this series we will explore these 144 templates to describe the character of each of them and what that means for the native who is of their essence. Your experience of the world is built atop one of these templates and you yourself are adding to the world in accordance to the formula of that template. That template was selected at the day and the hour of your birth – how strange that no one told you about it until now.
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