Tetrabiblos Book II - [PART II]; Discussed by Jenny Dusky

last updated: 07/Dec/2021

Tetrabiblos - The Ptolemy's Way

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– This is Part II of the Book II of Tetrabiblos. If you want to read Part I click here.

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IX. Of the Colors of Eclipses, Comets, and the Like

In Chapter 9, Ptolemy assures us to know the general conditions of an Eclipse due to its color emitting in real time, be it from the Sun or the Moon or even the visible conditions surrounding them [rods, halos etc], as well as the operation of a comet:

Color(s) of Eclipse	Resemble(s) the Quality of:
Dark Bluish Grey	Saturn
White	Jupiter
Reddish	Mars
Yellow	Venus
Irregular Colors	Mercury

Covering	Part Affected
Does the Color Cover all Bodies?	Most parts of the Countries
Only Half? Or just a Part of it?	“…it will affect only, that part against which the phenomenon is inclined.”

Comets (Bodies with Tails)

Resemble(s) the Quality of:

“”beams,” “trumpets,” “jars””

Mars & Mercury

– Harbinger of “wars, hot weather, disturbed conditions, and the accompaniments of these”

What Zodiac Sign the Comet is in?	Tells what kind of event and misfortune
What Direction the Tail Points?	These are the Regions where Misfortunes shall occur
Effect	Only when visible and that’s it
Oriental to the Sun	“Betokens” fast
Occidental to the Sun	Betokens Slow

X. Concerning the New Moon of the Year

Ptolemy seems to rather in doubt about choosing just 1 (one) New Moon of the Year. In Chapter 10 of Book II of Tetrabiblos, the Egyptian astronomer not only talks about “preferment” of the New Moon of the Year, among the Aries-Libra & Cancer-Capricorn (once they mark the 4 corners of Earth), but also about monthly forecasts.

Introductory Point: Yet, Ptoemy does point to the Aries New Moon in order to know what commences in that Year (x). However, I have a feeling that Ptolemy actually meant the New Moon closest to the Spring. For example, let a New Moon happen at 28 degrees Pisces, and the New Moon in Aries many days later, then, let the New Moon in Pisces be the Introdoctory New Moon of the Year. The same with the 4 beginnings.

The 4 Beginnings: And because there is not an actual beginning in a circle, none of them could be the “actual” leader but at the same time all of the 4 Zodiac Signs could lead the Yearly Revolution of the Sun saying “This is not strange, for each of these parts has [the] same special claim to being reasonably considered the starting point and the new real.”:

New Moon of the Year	Reason
Aries	“first at that time the day begins to be longer than the night and because it belongs to the moist season, and this element, as we said before, is chiefly present at the beginning of nativities”
Cancer Libra	“the longest day occurs at that time and because to the Egyptians it signifies the flooding of the Nile and the rising of the dog star;” ———————————————- ” the fall equinox because all the crops have by then been harvested, and a fresh start is then made with the sowing of the seed of future crops”
Capricorn	“then, after diminishing, the day first begins to lengthen.”

Then:

New & Full Moon	Concern(s)
Aries + *Syzygies	What will happen that Year’s Spring
Cancer + *Syzygies	What will happen that Year’s Summer
Libra + *Syzygies	What will happen that Year’s Autumn
Capricorn + *Syzygies	What will happen that Year’s Winter
*	the precedent lunation

“…For the Sun creates the general qualities and conditions [constitutions] of the seasons, by means of which even those who are totally ignorant of astrology can foretell the future.”

Movement	Prognostication
Winds	By the Zodiac Signs
Natural Phenomenon	By the Zodiac Signs

Variation of Prediction	Prognostication
Monthly Investigations	By the New & Full Moons

XI. Of the Nature of the Signs, Part by Part, and their Effect upon the Weather

Although Ptolemy won’t discuss it, understand that because the Earth is tilted, the seasons phenomenon are inverted in reference to the other hemisphere, for example, in the southern hemisphere the sign of Aries will be actually the Fall equinox, then such mark will be characterized as if it was Libra in the northern.

Observe that the majority of the middle degrees or 2^nd decanate of the Zodiac Signs are usually temperate, only the signs of Taurus and Pisces differ.

Zodiac Sign	Prognostication
Aries	“…because it marks the equinox, is characterized by thunder or hail, but, taken part by part, through the variation in degree that is due to the special quality of the fixed stars, its leading portion [0°-10°] is rainy and windy, its middle [10°-20°] temperate, and the following part [20°-30°] hot and pestilential. Its northern parts are hot and destructive, its southern frosty and chilly.
Taurus	… a whole is indicative of both temperatures and is somewhat hot; but taken part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°], particularly near the Pleiades, is marked by earthquakes, winds, and mists; its middle [10°-20°] moist and cola, and its following [20°-30°] portion, near the Hyades, fiery and productive of thunder and lightning. Its northern parts are temperate, its southern unstable and irregular.
Gemini	… as a whole is productive of an equable temperature, but taken part by part its leading portion [0°-10°] is wet and destructive, its middle [10°-20°] temperate, and its following [20°-30°] portion mixed and irregular. Its northern parts are windy and cause earthquakes; its southern parts dry and parching.
Cancer	… as a whole is one of fair, warm weather; but, part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°] and the region of Praesepe is stifling, productive of earthquakes, and misty; its middle [10°-20°] temperate, and its, following [20°-30°] parts windy. Its northern and southern parts are fiery and parching.
Leo	… as a whole is hot and stifling; but, part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°] is stifling and pestilential, its middle [10°-20°] part temperate, and its following [20°-30°] portion wet and destructive. Its northern parts are unstable and fiery, its southern parts moist.
Virgo	… as a whole is moist and marked by thunder-storms; but, taken part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°] is rather warm and destructive, its middle [10°-20°] temperate, and its following [20°-30°] part watery. Its northern parts are windy and its southern parts temperate.
Libra	… as a whole is changeable and variable; but, taken part by part, its leading [0°-10°] and middle [10°-20°] portions are temperate and its following portion [20°-30°] watery. Its northern parts are windy and its southern moist and pestilential.
Scorpio	… as a whole is marked by thunder and fire, but, taken part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°] is snowy, its middle [10°-20°] temperate, and its following portion [20°-30°] causes earthquakes. Its northern parts are hot and its southern moist.
Sagittarius	… as a whole is windy; but, taken part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°] is wet, its middle [10°-20°] temperate, and its following part [20°-30°] fiery. Its northern parts are windy, its southern moist and changeable.
Capricorn	… as a whole is moist; but, taken part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°] is marked by hot weather and is destructive, its middle [10°-20°] temperate, and its following part raises rain-storms. Its northern and southern portions are wet and destructive.
Aquarius	… as a whole is cold and watery; but, taken part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°] is moist, its middle [10°-20°] temperate, its following part [20°-30°] windy. Its northern portion brings hot weather and its southern clouds.
Pisces	… as a whole is cold and windy; but, taken part by part, its leading portion [0°-10°] is temperate, its middle [10°-20°] moist, and its following portion [20°-30°] hot. Its northern parts are windy and its southern watery.”

XII. Of the Investigation of Weather in Detail

When you want to look deeply into weather and astrology, one should practice monthly forecasts based in the sequence New and Full Moons, not letting a single lunation pass by. And not stopping there, one if needed, should also investigate the day by day transits to hour by hour, taking also notice of the position of the Moon relative to the Sun, the square, trine and sextile:

Investigation	Mode
Annual	But be assured to take the configuration of the Annual Syzygies of the cardinal Lunations in order to assert even better, while considering the Lords of the Lunations and the angles that precede them, as already discussed in the antecedent chapter above this. In this chapter he actually repeats himself of the previous chapters.
Monthly	“The second mode of procedure is based on the month. In this it will be necessary for us to examine in the same way the new moons or full moons that take place, in the several signs, observing only this, that, if a new moon occurs nearest to the solstitial or equinoctial sign just past, we should use the new moons which take place as far as the next quadrant, and in the case of a full moon the full moons. It will be needful similarly that we observe the angles and the rulers of both the places, and especially the nearest appearances of the planets, and their applications and recessions, the peculiar properties of the planets and of their places, and the winds which are aroused both by the planets themselves and by the parts of the signe in which they chance to be; still further, to what wind the latitude of the moon is inclined through the obliquity of the ecliptic. From all these facts, by means of the principle of prevalence, we may predict the general conditions of weather and the winds of the months.”
Moon Phases and the 3 Days After/Before New Moon & the True Beginning of Things:	“The third step is to observe the even more minutely detailed indications of relaxation and intensification. This observation is based upon the configurations of the Sun and the Moon successively, not merely the New Moons and Full Moons, but also the Half Moons [Moon/Sun Square], in which case the change signified generally has its beginning three days before [trine], and sometimes three days after [sextile], the Moon’s progress matches that of the Sun. It is based also upon their aspects to the planets, when they are at each of the positions of this kind, or likewise others, such as trine and sextile. For it is in accordance with the nature of these that the special quality of the change is apprehended, in harmony with the natural affinities of the attending planets and of the signs of the zodiac for the ambient and the winds.”
Day by Day & Fixed Stars + Luminaries transiting Conjunct Angles:	“The day by day intensifications of these particular qualities are brought about chiefly when the more brilliant and powerful of the fixed stars make appearances, Matutine or Vespertine, at rising or setting, with respect to the Sun. For ordinarily they modulate the particular conditions to accord with their own natures, and none the less too when the luminaries are passing over One of the angles.”
Hour by Hour & Moon’s Latitude:	“For the hour by hour intensifications and relaxations of the weather vary in response to such positions of the stars as these, in the same way that the ebb and flow of the tide respond to the phases of the Moon, and the changes in the air-currents are brought about especially at such appearances of the luminaries at the angles, in the direction of those winds towards which the latitude of the Moon is found to be inclining.

Ptolemy finishes the chapter by saying:

“In every case, however, One should draw his conclusions on the principle that the universal and primary underlying cause takes precedence and that the cause of particular events is secondary to it, and that the force is most ensured and strengthened when the stars which are the lords of the universal natures are configurated with the particular causes.”

XIII. Of the Significance of Atmospheric Signs

How the Day and Night will be today? In the last Chapter (13) of Book II, Ptolemy describes Omens and Prognostications only by observation to the atmosphere, the Sun’s disk, rays, formation of clouds, halos and of fixed stars, comets & shooting stars:

The Weather At Daily Revolution of the Sun	Look at
How will be the Weather During the Day?	The Chart of the Sun when it is Rising in a Location
How will be the Weather During the Night	The Chart of the Sun when it is Setting in a Location

Fair Weather	Sun Rising and Setting Clearly, “unobscured, steady, and unclouded”
Heavy Winds	Sun’s Disk in others colors (reddish for ex.) & “ruddy” rays *[as if a red flash ruddied the belly of a cloud]*
Heavy Winds	Yellowish formation of clouds and emitting long rays
Heavy Winds	“parheliac clouds on one side,” [the “Sun Dog”]
	Sun’s Disk seems rather “Darker or Livid accompanied by clouds”
Storms & Rain	Sun has Halos in one side
Storms & Rain	“parheliac clouds on both sides” sides [“22o halo”], and has Dusky or livid rays

The Weather According to the Moon’s Phases & Halos	Look at
Aspects of	The Chart when the Moon trines Sun
Aspects of	The Chart when the Moon sextile Sun

Clear Weather	Moon Thin & Clear
Winds	“thin and red, and the whole disk of the unlighted portion is visible and somewhat disturbed”
Storms & Rain	Moon Darker, Pale, Thick
Fair Weather	Halo around the Moon and Gradually Fading
Severe Storms	Halo of Yellowish coloration, looking “broken”
Snowstorms	Halo is Thick & Misty [foggy]
Storms + Wind & Snow	Halo is Pale, Dusky and looking “broken”
Further Investigate	Planets and Fixed Stars inside this Halo

Ptolemy than writes more overall about Fixed Stars, comets, shooting stars in relation to the weather which are many lines but I will stop here. You can always read his Book anyway for your own personal.

Astrology was seemed as technology for our ancestors. Not until in recent centuries Astrology was seem as an “old” tech, but not at all. Until human mastered the materials to predict the climate in all regions in the world, the people on Earth relied on their observation from what happened above and the conditions of weather below. Anyone on their phones has a weather app on their locking screen, you don’t need anyone to tell you such thing or look for the heavens for answer. Nonetheless, is it so interesting how they related according to the results we often participate and don’t realize, the chronological correspondence that seems rather invisible.

This was the Book II of Tetrabiblos of universal prognostications and investigations. If you wish to continue reading his Books discussed by Jenny Dusky, go the Menu above.

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References

Tetrabiblos Ptolemy’s four books of the influence of the stars [or the Quadripartite Mathematical Treatise] translated from the Greek paraphrase of Proclus by j. m. Ashmand – [London, Davis and Dickson; 1822]

Ptolemy. Tetrabiblos. Translated by F. E. Robbins. Loeb Classical Library 435. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940.

Porphyry The Philosopher – Introduction To The Tetrabiblos & Serapio Of Alexandria; Astrological Definitions (Translated from the Greek by ] James Herschel Holden, M.A.)

https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/24oct_sunrings