johannes susato wrote:The victory must always be given to that one which has the highest number of degrees in the house.

As an intercepted sign will always have the highest number of degrees its lord will always be lord of the house teaches Al Biruni.

Wow, that changes everything. Also, it alligns itself with the whole signs house system concept, since it respects more the idea. Obviously, that does not change the fact that the cusp is still the most sensitive point, but overrules the cusp's rulership authority. Any other traditional astrologer corroborates that?

Hello again,

Back to Tony Blair's chart as promised.

I don't have much time but I'll show the simplified version of using zodiacal releasings (aphesis) with profection.

Asc in 4Gem50
Tenth sign of Asc is Pisces
Lot of Fortune is 00Pis57 (the tenth sign from Asc)
Lot of spirit 08Vir43 (the 4th sign of Asc).

In Hellenistic astrology, releasings are usually done to the Lots esp. the Lot of Fortune (for the things that are bodily related, wealth and things that happened to us) and the Lot of Spirit (for "what one does" i.e. profession and status, what you impart upon the world). To check for one's status and pinnacle of profession (both of which are usually strongly correlated to each other in modern world), we release the Lot of Spirit. Releasing means going in the zodiacal direction beginning from the sign of the Lot itself and giving certain number of years/months/days/hours to each sign.

The most important time to check when releasing the Lot of Spirit is when the released Lot of Spirit arrives at the angular place (esp. the tenth sign) from the Lot of Fortune. The tenth sign from Lot of Fortune is the best place of ?what you do? and status in your life and in many cases it is better than the tenth sign from Asc. For the discussion on the angular places relative to Asc vs. angular places relative to Lot of Fortune - see Valens' Anthology. [Note: When Lot of Fortune and Spirit are in the same sign, the sign following the Lot of Spirit is the sign to start with the releasing of Spirit].

Blair's Lot of spirit is in Virgo. His life will reach its prime when the released Lot of spirit arrives at Sagittarius (which is the tenth sign from Lot of Fortune). The period for each sign is the minor period of the planet that rules the sign. Minor periods of planets (Saturn 30 when ruling Aquarius 27 when ruling Capricorn, Jupiter 12, Mars 15, Sun 19, Venus 8, Mercury 20 and Moon 25). For primary releasing, the numbers refer to years, secondary releasing months, tertiary days and quaternary hours. I?ll show the primary releasing for this example as this can be done without having to resort to software. One thing though, it is advised to use the conversion of 360 days to 1 year when using the year association with the planetary minor periods.

So, in Blair?s case Lot of spirit is in Virgo (ruled by Mercury, ages 0 up to 20), then Libra, which is the sign following Virgo (ruled by Venus, ages 20 to "28"), then Scorpio (ruled by Mars, ages 28 to 43) then Sagittarius (ruled by Jupiter, ages 43 to 55). The ages (in years) are rough figures because the ages must be converted to modern ages by making the 1 year = 360 days conversion). The exact dates are as follows:

Lot of Spirit Releasing:

Sign______Start Date __Age____End Date_____Age
Virgo_____06-May-1953___0____21-Jan-1973__19.7
Libra_____21-Jan-1973__19.7__10-Dec-1980___27.6
Scorpio___10-Dec-1980__27.6__23-Sep-1995__42.4
Sagittarius_23-Sep-1995__42.4__22-Jul-2007___54.2

He became prime minister in 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007 which is within the period when the released Lot of Spirit is in the tenth sign from Lot of Fortune i.e. Sagittarius. It is of course possible to calculate the secondary releasing by starting from Sagittarius (if you wish breakdown the Sagittarius period) and following the zodiacal signs giving months to the minor periods (instead of years) until the major Sag period is finished. For those who wish to venture into this, please be reminded that the signs that have large period (Cancer, Leo, Gemini, Virgo, Capricorn and Aquarius) will exhibit critical times called loosing of the bond. For more info, please refer to Ellen Black?s article in Project Hindsight website.
Rather than breaking the major releasing, I prefer to use Profection. We will profect his Jupiter to the tenth sign from the Lot of Fortune (Sagittarius). Why the tenth from Lot of Fortune? As stated above, it is the most elevated place of luck. Why Jupiter? Because Jupiter is the domicile ruler of his Lot of Fortune as well as the tenth sign from Asc. Remember that the starting point of profection (in this case Taurus ? where natal Jupiter is) is for the first year of life (or age 0). Profected Jupiter reaches Sagittarius (tenth sign from Lot of Fortune) at ages 7, 19, 31, 43, 55, etc. But only at age 43, profected Jupiter would be in the period when the released Lot of Spirit is in the tenth sign from Lot of Fortune i.e. Sagittarius (shown above). Hence, at age 43 he would reach his greatest elevation. He did become prime minister just a few days before his 44th birthday.