barren signs : Gemini, Leo and Virgo, traditionally associated with infertility. Aries, Sagittarius and Aquarius are considered semi-barren.

benefic : Said of planets and aspects considered to be positive or helpful influences. Traditionally, Jupiter is the Greater Benefic and Venus is the Lesser Benefic; the Sun, Moon and Mercury are moderately benefic. All harmonious aspects are benific.

Berossos (280 B.C.) : Babylonian. a priest of Baal. He founded a school of astrology on the Island of Cos.

beseiged : Said of a planet placed between two malefics. Energies of a beseiged planet are thought to be restricted.

bestial signs : Aries, Taurus, Leo and Capricorn; so designated because they are symbolized traditionally as animals. Also called quadrupedian (four-footed) and inarticulate (animals have voices but lack the power of speech). Speech impediments and superfluous body hair are associated with these signs.

bicorporeal signs : Gemini, Sagittarius and Pisces. Also called double-bodied and double signs, they are associated with twins and dual experiences.

bi-quintile : A minor benefic aspect, separating distance 144°, based on the fifth harmonic (multiples of 72°, a quintile, which is 1/5 of 360°).

birthtime : The moment of first breath of a new born.

bi-septile : A minor hard aspect, separating distance roughly 103° (102° 51' 26"), based on the seventh harmonic (multiples of a septile, 51 1/7°, which is 1/7 of 360°.

Bowl : One of the seven horoscope patterns identified by the late Marc Edmund Jones according to the picture formed by planetary distribution in a horoscope. All ten planets placed in approximately one-half of a horoscope indicate the Bowl. Interpretation focuses on self-containment directed toward the area of horoscope placement.

Bucket : The planetary arrangement formed by nine planets occupying approximately one-half of a horoscope with one planet roughly opposing the group that is a focal point of action (bucket handle) for planetary energies. Identified by the late Marc Edmund Jones.

Bundle : According to the late Marc Edmund Jones, a tightly-packed planetary arrangement in which all ten planets are confined in a horoscope to the space of a trine (120°). The Bundle is descriptive of narrowness, uniqueness, specialization in the area of horoscope occupation.

C

cadent houses : From the Latin cadere, to fall; houses three, six, nine and twelve fall behind angular houses. Ruled naturally by mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, respectively), they are also called mutable houses. The experiential mode of activity of these houses is naturally dispersive, adaptive and versatile, which may not be the reality depending upon the sings and planets in the horoscope that influence them.

Campanus : Thirteenth century astrologer and mathematician who devised the house system that bears his name, which divides the prime vertical into equal 30° arcs.

Caput Draconis : From the Latin, literally dragon's head; an older term for the Moon's North Node.

cardinal signs : Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, which fall naturally at the cardinal points in a horoscope; east, north, west, and south, respectively, points indicated by the angles. Cardinal signs are associated naturally with the angular (cardinal) houses; the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth. Interpretation focuses on initiatory, active, dynamic qualities. Less commonly referred to as the movable signs

cataclysmic planet : Uranus, which combines both magnetic and electric qualities and thus produces sudden upheavals.

Cauda Draconis : From the Latin, literally dragon's tail; synonymous with the Moon's south node.

cazimi : From the Arabic center of the solar disc. A planet that forms a conjunction with the Sun within 30' of partile is said to be cazimi, literally "burnt up" by the Sun. The Sun, representing the ego, engulfs the energies of a cazimi planet.

celestial equator : The extension of Earth's equator into space, perpendicular to Earth's axis.

celestial sphere : The conceptualization of the infinite heavens as a sphere revolving around Earth, based upon the part of the skies visible from a point on Earth.

Ceres : The first asteroid to be discovered (1801), named after the Roman goddess of agriculture. Ceres is thought to indicate productive areas in a natal horoscope.

chart : A horoscope.

Chiron : The most recently discovered asteroid of astrological interest, discovered by astronomer Charles Kowal, Hale Observatories, in 1977.

climacterial periods : Years in life, which are multiples of seven or nine based on the Moon's progression and Saturn's transiting cycle. The progressed Moon squares its natal position approximately every seven years and trines it every nine. Transiting Saturn follows a similar cycle relative to its natal position. Thus, climacterial periods are ages seven, nine, fourteen, eighteen, etc. Primary climacterial periods are the forty-ninth, sixty-third, and eighty-first years (doubly climacterial: 7 x 7, 7 x 9, 9 x 9). The sixty-third year is known as the Grand Climacteric and, if aspects in the natal horoscope confirm, is considered a year when life may be endangered.

combust : A planet that forms a conjunction with the Sun within orb of between 31' to 3° is said to be combust. The energy of a combust planet is integrated with that of the Sun in such a way that the planet does not operate independently.

comet : From the Latin cometa, literally hair of the head, figuratively, tail of a comet. A bright star-like heavenly body, composed of masses of tiny particles and gases, which follows an eccentric orbit of the Sun that for some comets can take thousands of years to complete. Most comets form luminous "tails", bits of meteroic material and gases that stream off into space, when they near the Sun.

common signs : Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, synonymous with mutable signs. See also mutable signs.

composite chart : A single horoscope made up from two or more natal charts by averaging house cusps and planetary positions of the natal charts. A composite chart gives insight into the relationship that exists between the persons whose natal charts are combined.

conjunction : The aspect formed when two planets occupy position close together in the zodiac, usually within 8° orb; the first harmonic.

consciousness : Any entity's innate capacity for relationships. The sentient principle in all substance. The soul of the universe.

constellation : From the Latin constellation, set with stars. A group of fixed stars.

contraparallel : The angular relationship between two planets that occupy the same degree (within 1° orb) and opposite direction of declination, one north of the celestial equator and the other south. Interpretational focus is similar to that of an opposition but less forceful. See also declination.

converse : Measurements, which follow the reverse order of the natural zodiac, used primarily to direct or progress a horoscope backward in time. Converse directions are interpreted by some astrologers as relating to the year after birth that corresponds to the year before birth for with they are calculated. Others believe that converse directions reveal karmic and inherited psychological needs that relate to the corresponding progressed horoscope.

Copernicus : An astronomer born in Polish Prussia credited with developing the theory (sixteenth century) that Earth is a moving planet that revolves around the Sun, a contradiction to Ptolemy's theory (second century) that the Earth is the center of the universe and fixed in space. In his book, Concerning the revolutions of the Celestial Sphere (1543), Copernicus discussed apparent motions of heavenly bodies as observed from Earth in relation to actual celestial motions.

co-ruler : Prior to the discovery of Uranus, the Sun and Moon were believed to rule one sign each and the other five planets then known to humankind (Mercury through Saturn) to rule two signs each. When the three outermost planets were discovered, they became co-rulers of the signs Aquarius (Uranus), Pisces (Neptune) and Scorpio (Pluto), along with the traditional rulers, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars respectively. Modern studies seem to indicate that the new co-rulers are primary rulers of the signs with which they are associated and may be sole rulers, in which case, two other planets, one linked to Libra (or Taurus) and the other to Virgo, may await discovery, thus eliminating dual rulership.
co-rulership of a house is shared by planets that rule the sign on the cusp and any sign intercepted within the house and planets occupying that house.

cosmecology (cosmic ecology) : The science that considers Earth in its relationship to celestial phenomena.

cosmic cross : An old term for a T-square, sometimes applied to a grand square (grand cross).

cosmobiology : an astrological system developed by Reinhold Ebertin (Germany, twentieth century) that emphasized midpoints and the following hard aspects: semi-square, square, sesquiquadrate and opposition. The angles are inserted in a cosmogram (Ebertin's term for his type of horoscope), to show the quadrature of the chart; houses are not used.

critical degree : 0°, 13°, and 26° in cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn), 9° and 21° in fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius), 4° and 17° in mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces). These degrees, based on the Hindu technique of Lunar Mansions (subdivisions of the zodiac according to the Moon's average daily motion, approximately 13°), are thought to strengthen the influence of planets, angles or sensitive points that occupy them.

culmination : A term used to describe a planet's arrival at the Midheaven (natally or by progression or transit); also used to indicate the completion of an aspect by progression, i.e., when a platic aspect reaches partile, it culminates.

Cupido : The first symbolic planet used in Uranian astrology. See also Uranian astrology.

cusp, cusp line : The line that separates the house and indicates the beginning of a house. See also house cusp.

cycle : A planet's zodiacal period; the time it takes a planet to make on complete transit (revolution) of a horoscope.