Skyscript Astrology Forum

I've finally found a comprehensible representation of primary directions...for someone like me, who abhors maths, and doesn't have the means to obtain Martin's book(or many other important books of traditional astrology!) this article is of tremendous help in an attempt to grasp them. Until now, I've stumbled upon a few articles on primaries on the net; but neither has been presented in such a manner as to allow for a relatively quick learning(well, of course, nobody said it would be easy in the first place) - all of them presuppose a good deal of foreknowledge in maths which is necessary to perform the calculations correctly. And maths, as I've already said, is my Achilles' heel.
Until now, I've never gathered enough determination and nerve to sit down quietly and try to follow through this seemingly endless and complicated calculations; every time, after 10-30 minutes of effort, I would stand up, hating myself, my computer, and all the astrologers of the past who made up this "crazy" technique.
But, this seems to be history, from now on. I managed to sit down for two hours last night with primaries...that's a good omen, I think. And today I consider sitting even a bit more, until I understand everything perfectly(or, at least, reasonably well).

Thank you, Deb. You may never know to full extent neither what treasure this site of yours represents for many students in search for valuable astrological knowledge, nor their gratitude.

Goran

Goran - thank you for your very generous feedback. I know that it is only a short introduction, which needs padding out with other texts like Martin's, but it was those mathematical equations that always sent shivers down my spine. So it is rewarding to know that you are gaining confidence by working through the example, (as I did).

Thanks also for your heart-warming feedback on the site !
Deb

Nice job, Deb.

- Ed

I absolutely agree with Goran - I don`t like math too.
Deb, thank you very much for this introduction.
I am in the possession of the Martin`s book but nevertheless my first steps are with Deb.

Wish you all the best,
Trojan

Thank you so much Deb

It looks great - and I would underline the guide to the use of Windows calculator in primary directions.
They tried to teach me like that here, but now written by Deborah, it's easier,

margherita

I join others here in thanking you, Deb. Your tutorial is wonderfully clear and helpful.

I too would like to thank Deb (somewhat belatedly) for this attractive-looking and accessible introduction. For those who are new to primary directions, let me just point out that what the article describes is zodiacal directions to the angles. There are also directions between planets -- those involving the luminaries were traditionally considered to be of particular importance.

As a footnote to Deb's article, it may be added that the oblique ascension of the ascendant (used in the example) can be easily derived by simply adding 90 degrees to the right ascension of the midheaven (RAMC). The RAMC is also known as the local sidereal time (LST) of the chart: as Deb points out, right ascension may be expressed in either time or degrees.

Thanks for the new posts and especially to you Martin. I'm sure that's a very generous and gracious way of saying that I screwed something up there. Of course, if it gets easier still, that's all the better.
I also want to add this proviso to the article - for any questions, please consult Martin's book

Deb wrote:Thanks for the new posts and especially to you Martin. I'm sure that's a very generous and gracious way of saying that I screwed something up there.

Not at all; the result looks absolutely right to me, and agrees with Gadbury. But sometimes there are shortcuts. I'm reminded of a maths teacher I once had who tended always to demonstrate (what he perceived as) the most elegant, rather than the most expedient, solutions to mathematical problems. He would cover the black-board with writing, then turn to us, beaming, and say: 'Now isn't that beautiful? But of course you can also do ... [something much quicker].'