Parents

The guiding style of the specific inquiry, to which we should adhere throughout, runs after this fashion. We shall now, therefore, begin, following the order just stated, with the account of parents, which comes first. Now the sun and Saturn are by nature associated with the person of the father and the moon and Venus with that of the mother, and as these may he disposed with respect to each other and the other stars, such must we suppose to be the affairs of the parents. Now the question of their fortune and wealth must be investigated by means of the attendance upon the luminaries; for when they are surrounded by planets that can be of benefit and by planets of their own sect, either in the same signe or in the next following, they signify that the circumstances of the parents will be conspicuously brilliant, particularly if morning stars attend the sun and evening stars the moon, while the luminaries themselves are favourably placed in the way already described. But if both Saturn and Venus, likewise, happen to be in the orient and in their proper faces, or at the angles, we must understand it to be a prediction of conspicuous happiness, in accordance with what is proper and fitting for each parent. But, on the other hand, if the luminaries are proceeding alone and without attendants, they are indicative of low station and obscurity for the parents, particularly whenever Venus or Saturn do not appeal in a favourable position. If, however, they are attended, but not by planets of the same sect, as when Mars rises close after the sun or Saturn after the moon, or if they are attended by beneficent planets which are in an unfavourable position and not of the same sect, we must understand that a moderate station and changing fortunes in life are predicted for them. And if the Lot of Fortune, of which we shall make an explanation, is in agreement in the nativity with the planets which in favourable position attend the sun or the moon, the children will receive the patrimony intact; if, however, it is indisagreement or opposition, and if no planet attends, or the maleficent planets are in attendance, the estate of the parents will be useless to the children and even harmful.


With regard to the length or the shortness of their life One must inquire from the other configurations. For in the father's case, if Jupiter or Venus is in any aspect whatever to the sun and to Saturn, or if Saturn himself is in an harmonious aspect to the sun, either conjunction, sextile, or trine, both being in power, we must conjecture long life for the father; if they are weak, however, the significance is not the same, though it does not indicate a abort life. If, however, this condition is not present, but Mars overcomes the sun or Saturn, or rises in succession to them, or when again Saturn is not in accord with the sun but is either in quartile or in opposition, if they are declining from the angles, they merely make the fathers weak, but if they are at the angles or rising after them, they make them short-lived or liable to injury: short-lived when they are upon the first two angles, the orient and the mid-heaven, and the succedent signs, and liable to injury or disease when they are in the other two angles, the occident and lower mid-heaven, or their succedent signs. For Mars, regarding the sun in the way described, destroys the father suddenly or causes injuries to his sight; if he thus regards Saturn he puts him in peril of death or of chills and fever or of injury by cutting and cauterizing. Saturn himself in an unfavourable aspect to the Still brings about the father's death by disease and illnesses caused by gatherings of humours.


In the case of the mother, if Jupiter is in any aspect whatever to the moon and to Venus, or if Venus herself is concordant with the moon, in sextile, trine, or conjunction, when they are in power, they signify long life for the mother. If, however, Mars regards the moon or Venus, rising after her or in quartile or in opposition, or if Saturn similarly regards the moon by herself, when they are diminishing or declining, again they merely threaten with misfortune or sickness; but if they are increasing or angular, they make the mothers short-lived or subject to injury. They make them short-lived similarly when they are at the eastern angles or the signs that rise after them, and liable to injury when they are at the western angles. For when Mars in this way regards the waxing moon, it brings about sudden death and injury of the eyesight for the mothers; but if the moon is waning, death from abortions or the like, and injury from cutting and cauterizing. If he regards Venus, he causes death by fever, mysterious and obscure illnesses, and sudden attacks of disease. Saturn regarding the moon causes death and illnesses, when the moon is in the orient, by chills and fever; when she is in the occident, by uterine ulcers and cancers.


We must take into consideration, also, with reference to the particular kinds of injuries, diseases, or deaths, the special characters of the signs in which are the planets which produce the cause, with which we shall find more appropriate occasion to deal in the discussion of the nativity itself, and furthermore we must observe by day particularly the sun and Venus, and by night Saturn and the moon.


For the rest, in carrying out these particular inquiries, it would be fitting and consistent to set up the paternal or maternal place of the sect as a horoscope and investigate the remaining topics as though it were a nativity of the parents themselves, following the procedure for the investigation of the general classifications, both practical and casual, the headings of which will be set forth in the following. However, both here and everywhere it is well to recall the mode of mixture of the planets, and, if it happens that the planets which rule the places under inquiry are not of one kind but different, or bring about opposite effects, we should aim to discover which ones have most claims, from the ways in which they happen to exceed in power in a particular case, to the rulership of the predieted events. This is in order that we may either guide our inquiry by the natures of these planets, or, if the claims of more than one are of equal weight, when the rulers are together, we may successfully calculate the combined result of the mixture of their different natures; but when they are separated; that we may assign to each in turn at their proper times the events which belong to them, first to the more oriental among them and then to the occidental. For a planet must from the beginning have familiarity with the place about which the inquiry is made, if it is going to exercise any effect upon it, and in general, if this is not the case, a planet which had no share whatsoever in the beginning can exert no great influence; of the time of the occurrence of the event, however, the original dominance is no longer the cause, but the distance of the planet which dominates in any way from the sun and from the angles of the universe.