Hi all, my first post here. I research and practice astrology unprofessionally in my spare time. I have been researching a project (slowly) for several years and am hoping someone will find it interesting. PDF Download here with better formatting and figures:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zihezug0y90mq ... s.pdf?dl=0

Evidence in Valens of an Astrological Purpose for the Stable Nodal Axis Attributed to Posidonius

Abstract

Diogenes Laertius attributes to Posidonius a system of eclipses where the moon’s nodes were fixed to one place in the ecliptic. Since the nodes of the moon are not fixed, the question remains if Diogenes was mistaken or if some lunar system involving a fixed nodal axis existed. Evidence from Vettius Valens in the 2nd Century CE shows multiple allusions to the same fixed nodal axis, implying that such a system may have had an astrological purpose. There also appears to be a connection between the fixed nodal axis and the astrological system of the exaltations.

Introduction

Posidonius was a Greek Stoic born in Syria around 135 B.C. He studied in Athens under Panatius, the Head of the Stoic School of philosophy, before settling in Rhodes. He traveled the Mediterranean extensively and wrote major investigations into philosophy, the sciences, and history. Posidonius justified the existence of divination through his belief in providence as a triad of god, nature, and fate. According to Augustine and Boethius in the 5th and 6th century A.D., Posidonius was also regarded as being devoted to astrology.

Diogenes Laertius was a biographer who lived in the 3rd century AD. While writing about the mechanics of eclipses, Diogenes reports, “The moon’s latitude is right at the ecliptic in Libra and Scorpio and in Aries and Taurus, according to Posidonius and his group.??? In A History of Mathematical Astronomy, Neugebauer observes, “As it stands this statement would imply the existence of a stable nodal line for the moon – contrary to obvious facts.???

A fixed nodal axis may not make sense astronomically but such as axis still could have existed for astrological purposes. The planets are not fixed to one place either, but in astrology the planets are assigned positions in the zodiac that have astrological meaning such as “Domicile,??? “Exaltation,??? or “Bound.??? Later medieval astrologers even assigned the nodes to the exaltation scheme. Could it be that the fixed nodal axis of Posidonius was an astrological teaching?

Three passages from the 2nd Century CE Astrological Treatise The Anthology by Vettius Valens show that the fixed nodal axis was used by astrologers and may have had a connection to the exaltation scheme. However, the purpose of the axis remains unclear. We will examine these passages in the rest of this paper:

• Book 1, Part 2. The Nature of the Twelve Zodiacal Signs
• Book 1, Part 16: The Determination of the Steps and the Winds of the Moon
• Book 2, Part 41. Violent Deaths. Examples

Valens Book 1, Part 2. The Nature of the Twelve Zodiacal Signs

Three zodiac signs are described by Valens as “a place for eclipses??? (Schmidt translation) or “ecliptic??? (Riley translation). The signs described by Valens as being places for eclipses are Aries, Libra, and Scorpio. These are three of the four signs mentioned by Diogenes Laertius as being signs where the moon’s latitude is right at the ecliptic.

The Schmidt translation for Aries, Libra, and Scorpio follows (bold added):

Aries is the house of Ares, a masculine z??idion, tropical, terrestrial, authoritative, fiery, free, ascending, semi-vocal, good, changeable, administrative, public, civic, unprolific, servile, Midheaven of the cosmos and cause of repute, two-colored (since the Sun and the Moon make leprosies), skin-eruptions; it is also unconnected, a place for eclipses …

Libra is the house of Aphrodite, masculine, tropical, human in form, ascending, airy, effeminate, vocal, good, changeable, diminishing of one’s belongings, the subterraneous z??idion of the cosmos, public, a place for eclipses …

Scorpio is the house of Ares, feminine, solid, watery, prolific, destructive, descending, mute, slavish, unchangeable, cause of foul smells, subtractive of one’s belongings, a place for eclipses …

Valens Book 1, Part 16: The Determination of the Steps and the Winds of the Moon

The following section in Valens shows a general procedure to find the step and wind of the moon. “Winds??? are not related to air currents but instead represent vectors of latitude position and direction; a “wind??? can be either north or south and ascending or descending. “Steps??? are units of 15 degrees counted in longitude from a point of interest that usually is important in terms of celestial latitude or declination.

The procedure described by Valens begins by the counting of steps for the moon starting from a northernmost latitude in Leo. Otto Neugebauer observed that taking Leo 0˚ as an extreme northern latitude implies that the lunar nodes would be on the Taurus-Scorpio axis, 90˚ degrees away. Neugebauer also states that traces of this norm can be found in P. Ryl. 27 and P. Carlsberg 9. Once again, we see evidence for a fixed nodal axis that corresponds with the one attributed to Posidonius by Diogenes Laertius. See the figure in the link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zi904wct25j3o ... n.jpg?dl=0

Schmidt translates this section of Valens as follows:

We will find the step and the wind thusly. From Leo to Libra the Moon comes down while northern; from Scorpio to Capricorn in [sic] comes down while southern; from Aquarius to Aries it goes up while southern; from Taurus to Cancer is goes up while northern.

Valens Book 2, Part 41. Violent Deaths. Examples

Riley translates the relevant passage from Valens’ Anthology as:

“the moon (which is Fortune), when in conjunction with the sun in Aries, suffers an eclipse or loss of light in the eighth sign, Scorpio. Therefore Scorpio is called its depression.???

Scorpio is presented here as a place for eclipses, supporting the idea that the fixed nodal axis attributed to Posidonius had some astrological purpose. In fact, Valens is relating eclipses to the concept of exaltation and depression.

The preceding passage makes the most sense when you consider the degrees of exaltation of the sun and of the depression of the moon given to us by Valens. The exaltation of the Sun is in the 19th degree of Aries. The depression of the moon is in the 3rd degree of Scorpio. The angular distance between the two is 194 degrees, which is the same distance that the moon travels from new moon to full moon. In other words, a new moon around the 19th degree of Aries is consistently followed by a full moon in the 3rd degree of Scorpio. If the nodes were fixed to Aries/Taurus and Libra/Scorpio, then we would expect a lunar eclipse in the 3rd degree of Scorpio after every new moon in the 19th degree of Aries. See link to figure below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nf6cpdtnj1wwv ... e.jpg?dl=0

Conclusion

Although several passages in Valens allude to the stable nodal axis attributed to Posidonius, we have little understanding of how this axis was used in astrological practice. We also don’t know if Posidonius created the system or if Posidonius was drawing on earlier sources.

Valens does show a connection between the moon’s nodes and the exaltation scheme by stating “the moon … suffers an eclipse or loss of light in the eighth sign, Scorpio. Therefore Scorpio is called its depression.??? Medieval astrologers later placed the nodes into the exaltation scheme in Gemini and Sagittarius. However, Kim Farnell has noted that “the exaltations of the nodes aren’t always consistent – Taurus and Scorpio are given in Maharishi Parashara’s Brihat Parashara Hora Sastra, a primary text for Vedic astrologers.???

Could these choices of where to place the nodes in the exaltation scheme have been influenced by the stable nodal axis attributed to Posidonius? In the case of the nodes being placed in Gemini and Sagittarius, perhaps the goal was to avoid a configuration that would portend an eclipse.

The placement of a stable nodal axis in Aries/Taurus and Libra/Scorpio may also correspond to the stretch of the sky known as the Via Combusta. According to medieval astrologer Al Biruni,

The combust way is the last part of Libra and the first of Scorpius. These two signs are not congenial to the sun and moon on account of the obscurity and ill-luck connected with them, and because each of them is the fall of one of the luminaries.

Furthermore, Nicholas deVore writes that “a birth Moon in that arc [of the via combusta] was considered to be as afflicted as if It was in an eclipse condition – at or near one of the Nodes.???

According to the medieval astrologer Abu Mashar, the degree of the moon’s exaltation is related to the moon’s first appearance, a thin crescent. Valens shows us that the depression of the moon is related to eclipses, a blood-red full moon. Together these two phases – the exalted crescent and the depressed eclipse – hint toward a beautiful design in the exaltation scheme that alludes to the harmony in the solar-lunar cycle.

Bibliography

Posidonius: Volume 3, The Translations of the Framents by I.G. Kidd

A History of Mathematical Astronomy by Otto Neugebauer

Greek Horoscopes by Otto Neugebauer

Vettius Valens The Anthology translated by Mark Riley

Vettius Valens The Anthology translated by Robert Schmidt

Abu Mashar The Great Introduction to Astrology translated published by Brill
Fiery Travels: The Via Combusta by Kim Farnell

Al Biruni The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology translated by Wright

Encyclopedia of Astrology by Nicholas deVore

Hi cjdecarlo,

And a warm welcome to the forum. ????

Thank you for sharing your interesting article.

Regarding this:

The procedure described by Valens begins by the counting of steps for the moon starting from a northernmost latitude in Leo. Otto Neugebauer observed that taking Leo 0˚ as an extreme northern latitude implies that the lunar nodes would be on the Taurus-Scorpio axis, 90˚ degrees away.

Can you explain why Valens considers 0° Leo the northernmost latitude here? I feel this may tie in with Ptolemy regarding the domiciles of the Luminaries Cancer and Leo the northernmost signs of the zodiac, which would again lead us to 0° Leo, being in the exact middle of the two signs. The problem with this, though, is that the Sun (whose course defines the ecliptic, i.e. the zodiac) has his northernmost declination when at 0° Cancer, not Leo!

Of course, if anyone else here can shed some light on this enigma, they are very welcome to contribute to the discussion.

Cheers
Michael

Thank you cjdecarlo,

Very interesting article!
Ouranos

Hi Michael and Ouranos, thank you for the warm welcome!

Michael: that is an interesting observation, something I will keep in mind when trying to make sense of these ancient texts. Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for why Valens considers 0° Leo the northernmost latitude here. Neugebauer calls it “peculiar,??? stating:

“The two above mentioned texts, Vettius Valens I,18 and P. Ryl. 27, show a peculiar norm in the counting of longitudes: the starting point is Leo 0˚, not one of the equinoxes or solstices. Traces of this norm are found in earlier and later sources; if Leo were chosen as the sign of the sun during the Egyptian month Thoth the period around A.D. 120 would corresponds to it.??? (Page 670, A History of Mathematical Astronomy)

I’m not knowledgeable enough to know why Neugebauer thinks the month Thoth may be relevant here.

I intend to continue to research the “Steps??? and “Winds??? and will hopefully produce some content worth sharing. For anyone who may be interested I recommend the following resources:

• A History of Mathematical Astronomy (by Otto Neugebauer) has a brief (but dense) chapter on the Steps beginning on page 669

• Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus (by Alexander Jones) has an excellent appendix on “The Standard Lunar Scheme??? which includes tables to calculate the moon’s position in longitude and argument of latitude (the longitudinal distance past the northern limit)

• Greek Horoscopes (by Otto Neugebauer) page 154 has a horoscope where steps are calculated for the Sun, Moon, and Planets

• Also, the following can be found in Antiochus of Athens, The Thesaurus (Schmidt translation):

9. Canon or the 4 Winds and the 24 Steps
For, there is a quadrant for each wind, or 3 zoidia, so that there become two steps per zoidion. A step has 15 degrees. Twice 15 is 30; behold, 30 degrees are found for each zoidion. Then, the Sun goes up in the north from Aries until the beginning of Cancer; throughout this it is said to heighten its height. It comes down in the north from Cancer up to the beginning of Libra; throughout this it is said to be depress its height, since from the highest point it begins to be depressed. It goes down in the south from Libra until Capricorn; throughout this it is said to depress its depression. And it goes up in the south from Capricorn to Aries; throughout this it is said to heighten its depression, since it begins to be heightened from the lowest point. It is clearly so in our inhabited world, but let it be conceived to be the reverse in the opposite region.