Judging Progressed Aspects
A conversation with Elbert Benjamine
Edited from original articles with an introduction by Dennis Sutton
Letter from Dennis
CC Zain (aka Elbert Benjamine) completed the initial writing of The Brotherhood of Light lessons on March 20, 1934. But, by then, constructing the birthchart (Course 8, Horary Astrology) and calculating the progressed chart (Course CS10-2 Natal Astrology, Part 2: Progressing the Horoscope) were beyond the capabilities of most Church of Light members. Astrology is the Golden Key, but to benefit from the astrological information contained in the birthchart it has to be calculated and constructed and very few students could do the calculations. This was a major problem for Elbert Benjamine — after all the organization's mission was to teach and disseminate the Religion of the Stars. What good is great information if it can't be accessed and used to enhance self-understanding?
Then, on January 31, 1938, Mildred Schuler commenced publishing The Rising Star, and Elbert Benjamine grabbed the opportunity to take a much more inter-active approach when assisting students in their astrological pursuits. In particular he focused on the difficult progressed chart calculations and other important issues related to the birthchart and progressed aspects. In the March 8, 1940 edition of the magazine he wrote:
‘One thing has struck me rather forcibly, and that is the prevalence of confusing what rightly belongs to ESP precognition with the principles of scientific astrology.
An event seen in the future through ESP is often perceived in great detail amid definite surroundings, all of which may be verified when it comes to pass. Looking on the astral plane at the projection of world-lines there, the imagination is often able to build a picture of a future event, with all its trimmings, which later is found to be a replica of that which actually happens.
But natal astrology is in quite a different category. By natal astrology you do not see events. You merely have a map of character tendencies and a map of forces which are brought to play upon these tendencies. And from these you must deduct what will probably happen. Instead of looking down world-lines and projecting them into the future, you must start with the character factors mapped by planetary positions at birth, and then consider what environmental forces have impinged upon and modified this character in the past, and what environmental forces will be brought to bear upon this modified character at a certain period in the future; and then, from the interaction between character and environment, estimate what conditions and events during a given period will enter the life.
That which will happen to a dog with a given birthchart and given progressed aspects is usually not the same as that which will happen to a human being with a practically identical birthchart and progressed aspects. So, in estimating the exact nature of that which will happen, you must consider the evolutionary level
Yet whether considering the probable events in the life of an insect, a dog or a human being, by natal astrology, the conclusions reached are attained not in the manner of ESP precognition, but through a careful weighing of the probable influence of forces past, present and future upon character tendencies.
Nor are these forces which must be considered exclusively planetary. Physical environment since birth, as well as in the future, offers definite resistance to events of a specific character. The resistance to certain specific events in a given category may be great, and the resistance to other specific events in the same category may be small. Or the resistance to all events in a certain category may be very great or very small.
I believe in all problems relating to the events which come into the life there are seven factors which, in different degrees, may have an influence and which consequently should receive attention. For the discussion of these factors and the problems arising out of them we have adopted the Brotherhood of Light Astro-Physical Interaction diagram. For the purpose of future discussions it will often be convenient to refer to each of the above indicated factors without taking space to explain what it is, as factor (A), or factor (C), or as a factor indicated by one of the other letters, of the diagram.’
And between 1940 and 1945 that's exactly what Elbert Benjamine did.
In the April 7, 1940 edition of The Rising Star he commenced a series of articles entitled: Case history studies of Environment and Conditioning as affecting events attracted by progressed aspects — with heavy duty reference to the Astro-Physical Interaction diagram. The series continued through to December 1940. (This case history study was never published by Elbert Benjamine in any of his reference books although it was published in Astrology: 30 Years Research by Doris Chase Doane.)
Then — in the February 15, 1942 edition of The Rising Star — Elbert commenced a series of articles entitled: Part 1 — Judging Progressed Aspects. And in the September 10, 1942 edition he commenced Part 2 — Examples of Judging Progressed Aspects. The charts of Mickey Rooney of John Edwards were judged and calculated. Mickey Rooney’s commentary was later presented in Chapter 2 — The Easy Way to Calculate Major Progressed Aspects — and the John Edwards’ commentary in Chapter 3 — The Easy Way to Calculate Minor Progressed Aspects — of the reference book Progressed Aspects of Standard Astrology by Elbert Benjamine.
During 1943, 1944 and 1945, in each monthly edition of The Rising Star, Elbert continued to provide further commentaries devoted to judging and calculating progressed aspects. A huge number of words were written explaining the calculation of the Limiting Date, the EGMT interval and the Major Progression Date all of which are now part of the old astrology. The need to do these calculations has been eliminated by computer technology.
But the Brotherhood of Light Astro-Physical Interaction diagram that was developed in 1939-40 to address ‘all problems relating to the events which come into the life’ and which played a vital role in each of these commentaries never made its way into any of the Brotherhood of Light lessons. It primarily relates to the assessment of the progressed chart and future events and there is no course strictly devoted to this subject matter. The primary focus of Course CS10-2, Natal Astrology Part 2: Progressing the Horoscope, is the calculation of the progressed chart and timing events — all of which are now done by computer. Predicting events is considered in Lesson (Serial) 19. The Astro-Physical Interaction diagram was presented and discussed in Chapter 4 of Progressed Aspects of Standard Astrology — The Easy Way to Judge Progressed Aspects — by Elbert Benjamine published in 1942. It was presented at the start of the reference book When and What Events will Happen by Elbert Benjamine. Both books were reprinted in 1972 as part of the Church of Light Astrological Research and Reference Cyclopedia, Volume 1.
The diagram is also presented on page 229 of Astrology: 30 Years Research by Doris Chase Doane where DCD makes reference to the Astro-Physical Interaction diagram's role in case history studies and the lives of fraternal twins.
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Introduction
The following commentary — Judging Progressed Aspects — A Conversation with Elbert Benjamine — is an edited version of the original articles that appeared in The Rising Star during 1942. All the questions related to the calculation of the progressed aspects have been omitted and some rearranging of the information has been made to ensure continuity and coherency. Parts of the original 1942 commentary made there way into the reference text Progressed Aspects of Standard Astrology — Chapter 4 — The Easy Way to Judge Progressed Aspects — although the diagrams that Elbert Benjamine used there to explain Physical Resistance to Thought-Cell Activity are new. They were not in the original Rising Star articles.
The full text of The Easy Way to Judge Progressed Aspects — and the Astro-Physical Interaction diagram — can be found in the Fall 2000 edition of the Church of Light Quarterly — Vol 75. No. 4.
In the original articles Elbert Benjamine identified himself as the Instructor and the person asking the questions was identified as the Student. I have taken the liberty of converting the commentary into a one-on-one conversation. Personal Astrology is a self-science and it is most unfortunate that much astrological information is presented in a style and format that implies that the assessment of a birthchart is something that only a qualified 'expert' can do. In 1942 this was a widely held belief simply because very few people could construct an almost accurate birthchart and those who could called themselves astrologers. Today a computer can calculate your very accurate birthchart and you can be your own astrologer.
The Conversation
Elbert Benjamine: To start with it should be clearly understood that your birthchart and progressed aspects do not map inevitable conditions or specific events. Progressed aspects energize thought-cell activity and your chief interest in determining the most probable events the energized thought-cells will attract is to enable you to intelligently divert this thought-cell activity into channels that will attract much more fortunate events and conditions than had you made no such intelligent effort.
Student: The thing that has always puzzled me is what makes progressed aspects work?
Elbert Benjamine: There are really only three important factors involved and of these three planetary energies operate indirectly. The two immediate factors are the physical environment in which you live and operate and your soul's thought-cell activity. Operating from the inner-(plane)-world, these thought-cells work with whatever energy they acquire to attract into your life physical conditions and events that correspond to what they desire.
Student: What is the source of my thought-cell desires?
Elbert Benjamine: They are derived from the past experiences of your soul, and are temporarily given a more harmonious or more discordant trend by the energy of the progressed aspect. If the progressed aspect is harmonious, the energy received by the thought-cells — mapped by the two planets — gives them more than their normal harmony; but if the progressed aspect is discordant the energy imparted to these thought-cells makes their desires more discordant than they usually are. To the extent these desires are harmonious will the thought-cells work to bring into your life events and behavior which are fortunate; but to the extent these desires are discordant will the thought-cells work to bring events and behavior which are unfortunate.
I must stress that events are favored, but not foreordained; and that your birthchart is a map of inner-world energies which, in order to bring things to pass, must exert pressure on your physical environment.
Student: What is the nature of the pressure which astrological energies exert upon the outer-world environment that tends to cause events to happen?
Elbert Benjamine: In the wider influence, the flow of astrological currents exerts a pressure upon the finer forms of all earthly things. It is easier for these things to move with the strong astrological currents then operating than to move across, or against them.
As applied to natal astrology this causes people to be born only at those times when the astrological currents conform closely to the thought-cell organizations of their souls. You were born at a time when your birthchart mapped the various mental relations within your soul. These comprise your character. At all times these thought-cell groups — mapped by the planets — exert from the inner-(plane)-world a pressure upon your external circumstances that strives to attract into your life harmonious or discordant conditions that are similar to their own nature and the way they feel.
Within limits these thought-cell groups are intelligent, and they work to attract into your life the events and conditions they desire. If what they desire is beneficial, I call it fortunate. If it is harmful, I call it unfortunate. As a rule, harmonious thought-cells endeavor to attract events that are beneficial, and discordant thought-cells endeavor to attract events that are detrimental. (Check out your birthchart's planet power summary. The harmony-discord grading given each planet will closely match the functional integrity of its thought-cell equivalent in your unconscious soul-mind.)
Student: So how am I going to know what desires my thought-cell groups have?
Elbert Benjamine: The thought-cells mapped by any one of the ten planets have desires that are characteristic of that planet, and these characteristics are well known. Furthermore, the desires of a group of thought-cells relate to the departments of life mapped by the houses which the planet mapping the thought-cells rules. This can always be relied upon.
But the specific things within these departments of life which the thought-cells desire, other than that they tend to be harmonious or discordant, are largely determined by the experiences and habit systems resulting since birth. This means that both your formal education and the education of your thought-cells by experience is very important in determining (1) the degree of thought-cell activity which influences the importance of the events attracted; (2) the degree of harmony or discord which influences how fortunate or unfortunate the events attracted will be, and (3) the specific event, or events, which are characteristic of their planetary type and the house rulerships involved.
Student: As I understand it, I was born with thought-cells which possess desire energy that is characteristic of each of the ten planets, and the normal amount of activity of any thought-cell group is indicated by the prominence of the planet mapping it in my birthchart. (See your chart's Planet Power Summary where the planets are listed in descending power order). So does the amount of thought-cell activity, mapped by a given planet in my chart, markedly change at different periods of my life, and if so, what are the factors which accelerate its activity?
Elbert Benjamine: As the thought-cells derived the energy they possess at birth from experiences in lower forms of life, they also acquire more energy from outer-world and inner-world experiences, of the same planetary type, which you have after your human birth.
Those who live in a physical environment where either strife or construction is a dominant factor have experiences which build energy into their Mars thought-cells. This makes them more active. And those who persistently think aggressive-combative thoughts build energy into their Mars thought-cells and this makes them more active too. Another potent inner-world experience is the release of planetary energy by progressed aspect. This only adds energy to the thought-cells during the period the progressed aspect is within a one degree orb; but during this time its impact gives unusual activities to the thought-cells mapped by the planets forming the progressed aspect.
If your behavior and the events you attract are the result of thought-cell activity within your soul (or unconscious mind), directed by their desires and operating on your physical environment, it is logical to conclude that the more energy a certain thought-cell group possesses the more work it can perform, which means the more it can influence your behavior and the events you attract.
Student: How successful are these thought-cell groups in attracting events they desire into my life?
Elbert Benjamine: That depends on two things: How active they are, and how much resistance is offered by the physical environment to the particular event they desire. If the physical environment offers too much resistance to the particular event they desire, either little happens, or they expend their energy attracting some other similar type event that belongs to one of the departments of life ruled by the planets whose energy they are expressing.
Progressed Aspects
Student: It seems to me that in order to judge what will happen I need to know (1) my birthchart; (2) how I have been reacting to my environment since birth, and (3) what my present circumstances are. But supposing I know these three factors, how can I determine what will probably happen at a given time? I assume this is a function of the progressed aspects in my chart.
Elbert Benjamine: The thought-cells mapped by a given planet can only use the energy they possess to mold physical environment. They normally possess an amount of energy that can be estimated from your birthchart — (see your chart's planet power summary for an astrodyne measurement) — although special conditioning since birth may give them more. Thus you only have so much Mars energy, and so much second house energy, as their normal amount — (see your birthchart's planet power and house power summaries) — and this determines your normal attraction for Mars events, and the normal trend of your financial life experience.
But when a progressed aspect comes along it does two things: (1) It gives additional energy to the thought-cells mapped by the planets involved in the aspect and because they are now more energetic they can attract events of their type which are much more important than the normal life trend; and (2) by adding energy which is discordant or harmonious the progressed aspect causes the desires of the thought-cells to deviate from their normal harmony or discord.
Student: I understand that there are aspects which form on three different time-velocity levels in the Hermetic System. What is the significance of each of these?
Elbert Benjamine: The analysis of 2700 charts progressed to the time of some specific event by The Church of Light Astrological Research Department proves that an important event only comes into your life when energy is added to the thought-cells desiring the event by a major progressed aspect.
Even a major progressed aspect of the Moon, probably because it moves so swiftly, is unable by itself to stimulate thought-cell activity of sufficient intensity to bring a major event into your life. I call these progressed Moon aspects sub-major aspects, and from them, unless they add accessory energy to a major progressed aspect, you should only expect sub-major events.
Thought-cells that are energized by a minor progressed aspect can only acquire enough energy to attract a minor event into your life. And those that are energized by a transit aspect can usually only acquire enough energy to attract an inconsequential event. However, some of the heavier transit aspects — like transit Uranus opposition birthchart Sun or transit Pluto square birthchart Moon — may give as much energy as some of the minor progressed aspects.
Student: I notice you emphasize major progressions, minor progressions and transits and say very little about progressing cycle charts or other methods in connection with natal astrology. Do you think these other methods valueless?
Elbert Benjamine: No, I don't. But I do consider them methods of divination, comparable to horary astrology. They do not permit a scientific assessment of active and positive energies which impact on your unconscious mind and actually influence your conduct and the events that come into your life.
Perhaps the best method is to actually ask a question and then erect a chart for the time and read it according to the rules of horary astrology. Often a horary chart will reveal details that cannot be ascertained from a progressed aspect. The birthchart and its progressed aspects can be compared to a good road map of a country. It is perfectly reliable, but small details are lacking. For these details relative to the streets in a particular city, one needs a city map. Horary charts can be compared to city maps.
In Church of Light Research work, in which thousands of charts have been progressed to the date of a particular event, we have striven to ascertain all the significant positive factors, and to eliminate all factors which were unreliable in the long run. We have eliminated some factors, such as the part of fortune, Dragon's head and tail and fixed stars, because, even though they are used very successfully by those skilled in astrological divination, they do not consistently map positive influences. So far as we have been able to ascertain, the actual and significant energies which may be depended upon to exercise an influence which may be felt and recognized by the individual, even though they are unaware of their existence, are confined to the birthchart, major progressed aspects, minor progressed aspects and transits.
Student: Why are you so sure that the three types of progressed aspects used in the Hermetic System of Natal Astrology are not merely symbolic factors like those used in Horary Astrology?
Elbert Benjamine: If you ask a person who knows nothing about astrology what their thoughts and feelings are at the time some strong progressed aspect is operative in their chart, you will find the trend of their thoughts and feelings, about the life-matters represented by the houses affected by the aspect, have changed markedly in the direction indicated by the progressed aspect.
Almost any experienced astrologer, upon learning of the outstanding conditions and events in another's life, yet without knowing the birthchart, can correctly tell the person that a certain specified planet is being heavily aspected by progression. On many occasions students who have not taken the trouble to keep track of their progressions, or who did not know how to work them, have remarked that they have felt, very strongly, the influence of a certain planet. Then on working out the major progressions they have found that there actually was a progressed aspect to the mentioned planet at the time. Many students report they can always feel the distinctive influence of any of the planets when they make a strong progressed aspect, even when not aware of it through inspecting their charts.
Student: If, as you say, many people can distinctly feel which planet is feeding their thought-cells in a pronounced manner at a given time, the quality of this energy must be quite distinctive for each of the ten planets, and at least some of their influences must be quite constant.
Elbert Benjamine: Yes. In reference to either the birthchart or progressed aspects while the thought-cell energy mapped by a given planet may find a wide variety of expression, the general type of such expression always remains characteristic of the planet.
Student: From what you have said so far in order to ascertain what events are probable under a given progressed aspect I need to: (1) Study my birthchart to learn the broader trends of my life; (2) Know as much as possible about how the thought-cells in my unconscious mind have been conditioned by the events and conditions I have experienced since birth; and (3) Be familiar with (a) the things related to each of the twelve houses; (b) the things affected by each of the planets; (c) how my behavior and thoughts may be affected by each planet; and (d) the things of the environment through which each planet tends to bring events into my life. So could you please provide a list of the alternatives associated with each planet?
Elbert Benjamine: The most certain and logical starting point for judging what may be expected from a given progressed aspect, is the characteristic influence of each of the planets involved. The best system in selecting the most probable events, after starting with the three things which are always affected in some measure by each of the planets involved, is to make an appraisal of the events which your birthchart indicates are possible during your human life.
Then, moving on from this appraisal you may consider the alternative ways in which your behavior may be affected by the thoughts stimulated, and the various environmental factors which may contribute importantly to the event. And should the birthchart together with the progressed aspects indicate probable health difficulties, the more common alternative diseases for which the planets involved in the progressed aspect are the constants should be considered.
Progressed Aspects and Planets
Sun: In your chart any progressed aspect involving the Sun will affect your vitality, significance and authority. And your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of pride, firmness, approbation, conscientiousness or self-esteem.
The influencing environmental factor may be gold, the government, politics, a person in a position of authority, men in general or an employer. If health difficulties are indicated heart trouble, high blood pressure, infantile paralysis, pneumonia, or diseases of the spine may threaten if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Moon: Any progressed aspect involving the Moon will affect your mental attitude, domestic life and everyday affairs. And your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of domesticity, women, your children, the weak and helpless, or music.
The influencing environmental factor may be silver, liquids, the common people, commodities, hotels, the home, food, the female sex, or rhythmic music. If health difficulties are indicated dropsy, stomach trouble, mental complaints, or afflictions to the eye or ear may threaten if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Mercury: Any progressed aspect involving Mercury will affect your mental interests, your facility or accuracy of expression and will increase your cerebral activity. And your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of time, written or verbal expression, calculation, travel, the recognition of size, weight, form and color, or the solution of perplexities.
The influencing environmental factor may be books, railroads, vehicles of travel, periodicals, telephone, (e-mail), agents, or people who are literary or studious. If health difficulties are indicated nervousness, neuritis, neuralgia, sciatica, hay fever, asthma, mental trouble, or some bowel complaint may occur if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Venus: Any progressed aspect involving Venus will affect your emotions, social relations and artistic appreciation. And your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of affection, friendships, beauty, art, mirth, conjugality (marriage), or inhabitiveness (living together).
The influencing environmental factor may be flowers, an artistic object, dancing, wearing apparel, fancy goods, confectionery, pastry, toilet articles, jewelry, harmonious music, or people of a social turn. If health difficulties are indicated trouble with the kidneys, skin, veins, venous blood stream, thyroid gland, female organs or sexually transmitted diseases may occur if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Mars: Any progressed aspect involving Mars will bring strife, haste and increased expenditure of energy – more energetic effort. And your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat, sex, eating or drinking.
The influencing environmental factor may be war, soldiers, surgeons, mechanics, cooks, machinery, steel, implements of construction or destruction or alcohol. If health difficulties are indicated an operation, accident, infection, inflammation, burn, or blood poison, rheumatism, kidney trouble, urinary complaint, or contagious disease such as smallpox, influenza, measles, pneumonia, scarlet fever, infantile paralysis, chicken pox or a sexually transmitted disease may threaten if other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Jupiter: Any progressed aspect involving Jupiter will affect you through abundance, increased optimism and joviality. And your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of benevolence, veneration, hope, devotion, selling, good will and generosity.
The influencing environmental actor may be merchandise, ships, judges, church, clergymen, bankers or professional people of some kind, or people of wealth. If health difficulties are indicated there is always an over abundance of something. The ketosis type of acidosis, diabetes, liver trouble, biliousness, catarrh, auto-intoxication, carbuncles, or fatty tumor may occur if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Saturn: Any progressed aspect involving Saturn will bring work, responsibility, and economy or loss. And your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of safety, secrecy, acquisitiveness, covetousness (envy), buying, trading, casualty, comparison, worry, fear, greed, selfishness, system, order or persistence.
The influencing environmental factor may be basic utilities such as minerals, hay, grain, coal and building material, or mines, real estate, the land, the weather, business methods, sedate and/or elderly people. If health difficulties are indicated there is always deficiency. Cancer, fibrous tumor, acidosis, tuberculosis, pellagra, atrophy or constipation may threaten if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Uranus: Any progressed aspect involving Uranus will affect you through something sudden, a human agency and personal change. And your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of independence, originality, inventions, the unconventional, unusual methods or modern techniques.
The influencing environmental factor may be inventions, automobiles, electricity, the latest technology, recent mechanical devices, antiques, astrology, the occult, orators, lawyers, electricians, astrologers, or psychologists. If health difficulties are indicated paralysis, appendicitis, arthritis, infantile paralysis or nervous disorders may occur if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Neptune: Any progressed aspect involving Neptune will increase your imagination, your sensitivity and attract schemes. And your behavior will be influenced by wishful thinking, fantasy thinking, day-dreaming, apprehension, idealistic visions, living in the imagination, or by thoughts of easy wealth, or promotion.
The influencing environmental factor may be a promoter, a confidence man or woman, a colonizing scheme, a scheme requiring the incorporation or profit sharing of a number of people, feeling extra-sensory perception, oil, gas, drugs, the drama (a stage play or art of writing and presenting plays), films, aviation, mediums, mystics, psychic people or psychic energy. If health difficulties are indicated there is a negativeness which encourages invasion by bacteria and to the formation of moist pockets of infection which may be quite hidden, and poisoning or psychic difficulty due to negativeness or over-sensitivity may threaten if other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Pluto: Any progressed aspect involving Pluto will affect you through groups, subtle force, and will bring coercion or cooperation. Your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of groups, statistics, inner-plane conditions, drastic events, the inside of things, cooperation, coercion, or universal welfare.
The influencing environmental factor may be radio, television, computer, chemistry, inner-plane forces, intellectual or feeling extra-sensory perception, racketeers, gangsters, terrorist, the coercive thoughts of others, or highly spiritual people working for the benefit of society. If health difficulties are indicated there is a high degree of sensitiveness which encourages invasion by other organisms. Hives, hay fever, asthma or psychic control by another entity may threaten if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
Progressed Aspects and Events
Student: Could you please explain about the events that come into people's lives?
Elbert Benjamine: The great value of knowing what event (or events) is most probable during the period a progressed aspect is operative lies in the opportunity to take appropriate steps before it happens to make the event that actually occurs more favorable than otherwise would have been the case.
The events that come into your life are not the result of chance. Instead they are the product of your soul's past experiences and both the inner-world environment and the outer-world environment at the time they happen. Your soul's past experiences are organized in your finer (astral) form as thought-cells and thought-structures (states of consciousness), each possessing the desires developed by the experiences which built them. The desires of these thought-cells and thought-structures are not immutable, but are modified by conditions later encountered in both the inner-plane astrological environment and the outer-plane physical environment.
The process by which the thought-cells acquired their desires when they were first formed, through which these desires are modified by unsolicited experiences since human birth, and through which the desires are changed by deliberate planning, is known as conditioning. But the (conditioned) desires of the thought-cells is not the only important factor in determining the event which will occur. The amount of desire energy which can be mobilized and the amount of opposition — or resistance — to the event must also be considered. Thus when estimating the event most likely to occur under a given progressed aspect the resistance of environment to certain kinds of events and the facilities the environment affords to other kinds of events must always be appraised and considered.
The degree of thought-cell activity must receive careful consideration. It indicates the amount of energy the thought-cell group can utilize to bring pressure upon the physical environment to attain the results it desires. The degree of thought-cell activity depends upon the volume of experiences before human birth of the thought-cells involved, as mapped by the appropriate planets in the birthchart, relative to (1) the given evolutionary level, (2) the conditioning since birth, and (3) the volume of energy delivered to the thought-cell group and thus stimulating their desires by all the progressed aspects in operation at the time.
Now as the specific event depends not merely upon the desires of the thought-cells, and the amount of energy they can acquire at the time, but also upon the resistance or facility of the environment in reference to that event, if the environment is changed the event will be different. And as it is often possible to plan the environment in view of the progressed aspect to be operative during a given period, it is thus also possible to change the event in a selected manner.
The Astro-Physical Interaction Diagram
Student: Could you please illustrate, by means of a diagram, each of the factors that I must consider when assessing future events and conditions?
Elbert Benjamine: The Astro-Physical Interaction diagram has been designed to facilitate the assessment of future events and conditions. Each letter stands for a specific factor and details the assessment sequence you should follow.
In the diagram (A) represents your birthchart; (B) your conditioning since birth; (C) the progressed aspect being considered; (D) the other progressed aspects also in operation at the time; (E) the resistance offered by your physical outer-world environment; (G) your evolutionary level (not mapped in the chart) and (F) your efforts at control based upon your knowledge of progressed aspects (not mapped in the chart.)
Astro-Physical Interaction Diagram
In all problems relating to the events which come into your life — including the practice of a given vocation — each of the 7 factors should receive attention as playing a significant part. However, in the selection of a vocation (G) is of no significance, and (F) is equally significant in all vocations.
Student: A progressed aspect formed by any two planets seems to be able to affect the life (in some degree) in six different ways. How can I determine which one of these six ways will have the most marked influence?
Elbert Benjamine: As soon as you move away from the three ways in which each planet involved in a progressed aspect can influence your life you're confronted with alternatives which not only depend upon (C) the planets making the progressed aspect, but also:
| (A) |
your birthchart thought-cell activity |
|
| (B) |
how this birthchart thought-cell activity has developed habit-systems of expression due to events and conditions since birth up to the present time |
|
| (C) |
how other progressed aspects at the time influence your thought-cell activity and |
|
| (E) |
the current facilities and resistance offered by your physical (outer-world) environment to specific events and condition |
|
For example, in any aspect involving the Sun you may expect your vitality, significance and authority to be affected. But often only one of these is affected in an outstanding manner. An individual whose birthchart insures an ample level of vitality will hardly notice the influence of a progressed aspect of the Sun on their vitality. But a person whose vitality is low and who has difficulty maintaining vitality will notice that practically every progressed aspect involving the Sun will have an effect on their vitality — either giving it a boost or causing it to reduce.
If a woman has a prominent birthchart Sun, and her environment since birth has encouraged the cultivation of a Sun thought-cell habit system that expresses in terms of authority, and at the time she has reached the head of some enterprise or attained a political position, the probabilities are high that the progressed aspect involving the Sun will markedly effect her authority. But a mother and home-maker with a non-prominent Sun who is not working for someone who has authority over her, such as an employer or boss, may find the effect of authority negligible.
Student: How can I ascertain which of the twelve departments of life a progressed aspect in my chart will chiefly influence?
Elbert Benjamine: A vast amount of statistical work has revealed that the department of life chiefly influenced will be one of those mapped by the houses ruled by the two aspecting planets. But again we are faced with alternatives; for usually more than one house is indicated, and sometimes there are several.
The houses actually occupied by the planets at the time the aspect is completed represent the thought-cells which are given the most planetary energy. But this is of less significance than either (B) the conditioning since birth or (E) the outer-world environment. Thus there is no sure way of knowing from the progressed aspect alone which department of your life will be chiefly influenced. Instead you must appraise (A) your birthchart's tendencies, carefully assess and examine what you have done (B) in the past, assess your current circumstances (E) and appraise the bearing of other progressed aspects (D) as influencing the trend of events indicated by the one under consideration.
Only by knowledge of all these factors can it be foretold with a high degree of probability which department of life will be chiefly affected
Student: How can I determine how important the event will be?
Elbert Benjamine: The importance of the event is only relative to other events in your life. It is not relative to events experienced by other people. It is to be measured by the amount of thought-cell activity — which is indicated by the birthchart (A) and conditioning (B) since birth as well as influenced by this and other progressed aspects — as modified by the resistance of the environment to the particular planetary types of thought-cell activity in operation.
You cannot gauge from the power of a progressed aspect by itself the importance of the events it will attract. At times you may have gotten yourself into a rut — so thoroughly conditioned to be fixed in certain respects of your life — and only the most powerful progressed aspects can give a boost to your thought-cell activity to blast you out. On the other hand you may have become conditioned to be in a constant state of flux relative to one or more departments of your life, and almost any progressed aspect gives enough thought-cell activity to bring an event of some importance relating to these matters.
Student: How can I determine how fortunate or unfortunate the event will be?
Elbert Benjamine: The habit-systems formed for expressing thought-cell activities of a given planetary type powerfully influence how much good fortune or misfortune you will experience under a given progressed aspect. Even when the birthchart aspects to both planets involved in a given progressed aspect in different people's charts are similar the amount of benefit or harm each experiences often varies widely. If the progressed aspect is discordant, one person may have a difficult time but overcome the difficulty and through the experience gain in some way, while another may have a difficult time and suffer permanent loss. While birthchart (A) thought-cell harmony must be used as a starting point, conditioning (B) is fully as effective as the progressed aspect in determining how fortunate or unfortunate the event will be, and the environment (E) also has a powerful influence. And if there is another heavier progressed aspect (D) in operation, it may have more power to determine the fortune or misfortune of the event.
Student: After I have determined the probable department of life to be affected, as indicated by one of the houses in my birthchart, and decided something as to the importance of the event and its harmony or discord, how do I pinpoint the outstanding Specific Event during the time-frame a given progressed aspect operates?
Elbert Benjamine: Each house rules several alternative events, and each planet may express through any one of a number of specific events. Your birthchart (A) may incline strongly towards events of a certain kind. Other progressed aspects (D) may contribute to the solution of this problem. But more often than not your conditioning (B) by past experience and your present environmental circumstances (E) will allow you to select the outstanding event that is most probable.
Student: Could you explain a little more about the appraisal of the environment?
Elbert Benjamine: While a progressed aspect involving a given planet tends to affect your life in three ways it also (1) affects your behavior through stimulating thoughts about certain things and (2) influences your life through certain environmental factors. There are a number of alternate things under each planet’s influence, one or more of which may engage your thoughts; and a number of environmental factors, one or more of which may help bring an important event into your life.
Under a progressed aspect involving Venus, for instance, your behavior will be influenced by thoughts of affection, friendship, beauty, art, mirth, conjugality or inhabitiveness. The influencing environmental factor may be flowers, an artistic object, dancing, wearing apparel, fancy goods, confectionery, pastry, toilet articles, jewelry, harmonious music, or people of' a social turn. And when health difficulties are indicated trouble with the kidneys, skin, veins, venous blood stream, thyroid gland, female organs or sexually transmitted diseases may be threatened if the other astrological constants predispose toward it.
The planets and houses involved and the harmony or discord of the progressed aspect alone permit a large variety of events. But in judging, the attempt is made to eliminate as many of these alternatives as possible, and narrow them down to a few likely alternatives, or if possible to the most probable specific event Thus the conditions and events which your birthchart (A) shows to be improbable will enable you to eliminate some of the many alternatives listed under the aspect, planets and houses involved. An assessment of past experiences will indicate the habit-systems (B) which your thought-cells have formed for their usual expression, and this will enable you to eliminate other alternatives which depart too markedly from these habit-systems. And knowledge of your current environment (E) will indicate if there are facilities for some of the alternative events, and great resistance to others. This will enable you to eliminate those for which the environment affords little or no opportunity.
The keyword of the most powerful birthchart aspect to one of the planets involved, as modified or dominated by the keyword of the progressed aspect, will indicate something of the nature of the event and will permit still more elimination to be made, until you have a specific (S) event or events that (1) are characteristic of one or more of the planets involved in the aspect, (2) belong to one of the houses these planets rule, and (3) whose nature is further described by the keyword of an aspect.
Appraising Progressed Aspects
Student: It seems to me that there are five factors which always need to be considered in judging what will probably occur under a given progressed aspect. So could you present these in a definite order so that I won't overlook any of them?
Elbert Benjamine: The judging of any progressed aspect can be handled in five definite steps that always follow each other in the same order. It could be done in four steps except that there are usually several progressed aspects currently in operation, and the more powerful progression often influences both the importance and the fortune of the others.
Student: What do you consider the first step?
Elbert Benjamine: Step 1 is to note the Planetary Characteristics and House Rulership constants.
Whatever predispositions are shown in your birthchart should always be considered general and not specific. Your pre-human life experiences have been with fighting and running away — not with shooting guns and fleeing violence in a war zone. They have involved home building and raising the young — not installing electric lighting, a refrigerator and a gas stove, and sending the youngsters to college. The very fact that it is your chart — the chart of a human being — predisposes it to those events that are common to most human lives. But as you move from the broad generalities toward specific events the predispositions become subject to a wider and wider number of alternatives events, any one of which may fall within the indicated category.
As a human being you have a predisposition toward receiving parental care in infancy, to being trained to use brain and hands, towards working at something after maturity, and towards acquiring a philosophy of life, getting married and having children. But everyone doesn't have all these same six experiences. Some fail to get parental care in infancy, some fail to work, some do not marry and some who marry do not have children. Furthermore, the degree of importance assumed by each of these experiences by those who have them varies widely. Work is very important to some people who have almost no parental care, and whose marriage and children are only of minor concern.
In the same way that each human being is predisposed to undergo the mentioned experiences each progressed aspect gives a predisposition toward affecting your life and the life of everyone else in six different ways. But some will fail to experience all six and those who do will do so in widely different degrees. The individual whose birthchart Mercury lacks prominence and has few aspects will notice little increase in cerebral activity while a progressed aspect to Mercury is in operation. And the individual whose birthchart Venus receives few aspects and lacks power will notice little change in their artistic appreciation while Venus is being stimulated by major progression. And the individual whose birthchart Neptune has few aspects and lacks power will notice little increase in their sensitivity while a progressed aspect involving Neptune is in operation. All of which is just another way of saying that the predispositions shown by your birthchart (A) have a limiting influence on the predispositions indicated by any progressed aspect.
Furthermore both your conditioning (B) since birth and your environment (E) influence the degree in which each of the three constants associated with each of the two planets involved in a progressed aspect affects your life. Nevertheless, in the sense that you and all human beings are predisposed toward the six experiences previously mentioned, so are you and everyone else predisposed, while under a given progressed aspect, to be affected in the three ways indicated by the two planets involved in the aspect.
Student: Could you illustrate this situation in the chart of Mickey Rooney?
Elbert Benjamine: Mickey Rooney was born at 12.00 noon EDT on September 23, 1920 at Brooklyn, N.Y. (74W00, 41N42) according to his mother. (This time from his mother’s memory has been rounded-off and in his autobiography I.E An Autobiography Rooney gave 11.55am. This could be the time on his birth certificate. Sagittarius is still on the ascendant — 00 Sagittarius 40. It moved there at 11.51.40am: And Saturn is in house 10. It moved to house 9 at 11.59.05am. DWS)
Mickey Rooney’s Progressed Chart — June 30, 1933
Mickey Rooney's chart is progressed to June 30, 1933. On this date progressed Sun (at 12 Libra 51) in the tenth house has moved to form sextile aspects with birthchart Neptune (at 12 Leo 58) and progressed Neptune (at 13 Leo 17) in the ninth. These planets are both prominent in his chart. The Sun by its position in the angular tenth house and Neptune by aspect — it’s opposition Moon and sextile Mercury. This progressed aspect indicates that Mickey would be affected where his vitality, significance and authority are concerned; that his imagination and sensitivity would be increased, and he would attract schemes.
Student: How about the house constants?
Elbert Benjamine: House rulership of the event is a constant
Having established that the house rulership of the event attracted by any progressed aspect is a constant, you are immediately aware that any progressed aspect has access to the thought-cells mapped by more than one house.
Each planet involved in the aspect rules at least one sign and some planets rule two: and the energy of the progressed aspect has access to the common thought-cells of those houses where the sign is located. In addition to the common thought-cells mapped by the signs, each planet in the birthchart maps a dynamic stellar structure, and the position of each progressed planet also maps a highly dynamic group of thought-cells. The energy of the progressed aspect has access to the houses in which the planets involved are located in the birthchart and to the houses in which they’re located by progression.
The thought-cells mapped by the houses in which the two planets directly involved in the progressed aspect are located receive more of the energy than do the thought-cells of the houses in which the two indirect terminals are located. And other common thought-cells — stimulated by the aspect due to house rulership — receive even less energy. But much effort spent in the actual analysis of the house rulership of the events which have happened under progressed aspects indicates that commonly this is not significant enough to outweigh the influences of either conditioning (B) or environment (E). In other words while an active birthchart (A) house inclines toward its department of life and an event indicated by its ruler making a progressed aspect, almost no reliance can be placed upon the fact that the planets occupy certain houses when the aspect is complete.
In Step 1 you gain some positive knowledge about the most likely event to happen; knowledge which permits large categories of events to be eliminated. You know the event will belong to certain general types, and this at once enables you to eliminate all events which do not bear the characteristics of the two planets involved in the aspect. You also know the event will belong to one of a number of departments of life, and this allows you to eliminate all events which clearly belong to other departments of life.
Student: Will you show me what you mean by assessing Mickey Rooney’s progressed Sun sextile progressed Neptune in early 1934.
Elbert Benjamine: Both progressed Sun and birthchart Sun are in the tenth house, and both birthchart and progressed Neptune are in the ninth. The Sun also rules the ninth house; and Neptune rules the fourth. Thus events not characteristic of the Sun and Neptune can be eliminated, and events not ruled by the tenth, ninth and fourth houses can also be eliminated.
Student: What do I do in the next step?
Elbert Benjamine: In Step 2 you eliminate events improbable to your birthchart.
The degree of activity of the thought-cells mapped by each of the 12 birthchart houses reveals their predispositions in terms of personal involvement and event importance. This has been thoroughly demonstrated in the analysis of all the 3,000 birthcharts considered in How to Select a Vocation in which the vocation necessitated association with one or more specific departments of life.
Because of the planets in them, and the aspects these planets form, Mickey Rooney has very active ninth and tenth houses. That is, his birthchart shows a predisposition toward events affecting the department of life which includes teaching, publishing, advertising, lecturing, long journeys, religion and the court; and a predisposition towards events affecting the department of life which includes honor, business, credit, profession and superiors. We cannot eliminate events ruled by the fourth house, but the birthchart indicates that events of importance are much less likely to affect the fourth house than the ninth and tenth.
Birthchart Neptune forms one opposition (separation) aspect, thus some separation cannot be completely ruled out. But as it forms a closer luck (trine) aspect with Mars and a closer (opportunity) sextile aspect with Mercury, it is much more probable that a progressed sextile involving Neptune would bring some advantage. (Neptune is harmonious by astrodynes.) Birthchart Sun is square Pluto, indicating that any progressed Sun aspect has a tendency to attract obstacles. But it also forms a (luck) trine aspect with birthchart Moon; so a progressed (opportunity) sextile aspect involving the Sun would have a predisposition to attract fortunate events. (Birthchart Sun is harmonious by astrodynes.)
This is also the place to consider predispositions toward disease. Mars in the first house of Mickey's chart is square Saturn and this gives some predisposition toward accidents. But this predisposition would only become a real-life accident event when Mars is involved in a progressed aspect.
On the positive side we have identified the chief event as not without some obstacles and possible separation, but on the whole fortunate, and bringing some fine opportunity affecting the ninth and tenth houses. And we have eliminated, at least to the point of minor importance, all the other ten (10) houses, and events that, although some separation and obstacles are involved, are not real opportunities.
Student: It seems to me that the event is getting narrowed down quite rapidly. What do I do in Step 3?
Elbert Benjamine: In Step 3 you eliminate events because of conditioning
If the education, and the events which have already happened in the life, show that the thought-cells have been given specialized desires that have formed the habit-system of finding satisfaction in quite different ways, this makes it highly probable that the same thought-cells will continue to find satisfaction through somewhat similar events. So, in regard to Mickey Rooney, due to the planets involved in the progressed aspect, you know the type of thoughts influencing his behavior.
From the Sun being party to the aspect you know he engages in thoughts of pride, firmness, approbation, conscientiousness or self-esteem. And from Neptune's involvement you know he engages in other thoughts related to wishful thinking, fantasy thinking, day-dreaming, apprehension, idealistic visions, lives much in his imagination or has thoughts of easy wealth or promoting something.
It’s known that Mickey’s folks were vaudeville performers, and that he has spent practically all his life in connection with the stage. He has had a hard struggle to get into pictures, but after winning a national contest conducted to find a boy who could play the part of Mickey McGuire, he did well in that series on the screen. As his whole life, from the time he toddled onto the stage when15 months old to steal the show from Sid Gold and Baba La Tour, up to the present has revolved around show business the tenth house thought-cells would have had to change their desires markedly to affect his career through some channel other than his chosen profession. It seems more probable that the thoughts influencing his behavior would revolve around his professional career. He can dance, sing and is good on the drums, as well as act.
Lacking the necessary education for various careers and considering his young age — 14 years — enables us to eliminate many events. (Older, and with proper training, the progressed aspect might have given him a fine start in the advertising business.) A long journey cannot be ruled out, but as the tenth house thought-cells are so active, and have been conditioned to express in terms of an acting career, a long journey or any other event would more than likely contribute to the main one, which would favor his professional ambitions.
Student: As a rule progressed aspects do not come singly or occur in isolation. How do you gauge the influence of other progressed aspects on the indicated event?
Elbert Benjamine: In Step 4 you appraise other progressed aspects as influencing
the importance and fortune of the event
Depending on the degree to which you permit your thinking and feeling to be dominated by the most powerful progressed aspect does its energy find its way over the electrical currents of your nervous system to the thought-cells reached by other progressed aspects, giving them greater activity and making their desires more harmonious or discordant.
When you do not keep consistently tuned to the most powerful progressed aspect, each aspect tends to work out in its own terms; but when you do its energy — acting as a Rallying Force — tends to increase the importance of the events attracted by other progressed aspects then in operation, and tends to make the events they attract more or less fortunate than they otherwise would be.
In Mickey Rooney's chart during August 1933, in addition to the Sun-Neptune progression, progressed Mars will move to form an opportunity (sextile) aspect with birthchart Venus. (On June 30, 1933 progressed Venus had already formed a luck (trine) aspect with birthchart Pluto and progressed Mercury had formed a luck (trine) aspect with birthchart Uranus. DWS) This additional (D) progressed aspect certainly would not make the event less important. Being a sextile it would not decrease the fortune of the other Sun-Neptune progressed aspect. And as Mars rules both Mickey (the first house) and the stage (the fifth house) it would probably affect him where his health (the first house) and the stage were concerned. It actually activated the Mars-Saturn square aspect in his chart and he broke his leg in early 1934 and again in 1935. With his leg in a cast he was able to finish the picture he was working on — the leg being hidden from the camera's view.
Student: As the method being followed seems to be a process of elimination, I assume the last step eliminates still other events.
Elbert Benjamine: Yes. In Step 5 you eliminate remaining events not probable in the given environment
When doing this you need not consider too wide a possibilities as both planets involved in the progressed aspect tend to attract events through definite environmental factors. This means that any environmental factors absent from the environment are not considered; and only those that are present can play a direct role in bringing the event to pass.
Thus the environmental factors employed by the Sun are gold, the government, politics, people in positions of authority, men, or an employer. Those employed by Neptune are a promoter, a confidence man/woman, a colonizing scheme, a scheme requiring incorporation or profit sharing of a number of people, feeling extra-sensory perception, oil, gas, drugs, the drama, films, aviation, mediums, mystics, psychic people or a psychic energy.
You could probably eliminate gold, the government and politics leaving for the Sun to use persons in authority, men or an employer. And you could probably eliminate all but a promoter, the drama. films and psychic people for Neptune to use. Both psychic people and a promoter, if they exerted an influence, would exert it to assist his career. Also to the extent the drama and films were used, they would further his professional ambitions. And under his past conditioning and present environment, he would require the assistance of persons in authority, and an employer, if he was to advance his career.
Progressed Sun sextile (opportunity) progressed Neptune, assisted by progressed Mars sextile birthchart Venus (and the other high-harmony progressions) brought Mickey his big opportunity. He was given, through the influence of those in authority, a part to play in Max Rhinehart's production of A Mid-Summer Night's Dream at the Hollywood Bowl.
His success in the part brought him another opportunity to star in the screen version. Here also, in spite of the difficulties he had with his leg, he covered himself with glory (the tenth house) and gave a performance that placed him along side other top ranking movie stars. He was also advertised (the ninth house) throughout the USA.
Student: You have spoken as if the event attracted by the thought-cell activity set in motion by a given progressed aspect may happen at any time during the period the progressed aspect is within one degree of perfect. This means an aspect involving the progressed Sun would be in operation for at least two years. Is there any way I can determine more precisely the probable time of the indicated event?
Elbert Benjamine: Usually it can be determined within much narrower limits. But in judging when the indicated event will take place you are still dealing with the primary factors that permit the event to occur. You're dealing with thought-cell activity that's exerting pressure on your physical environment, and the resistance of your environment to such specific pressure to bring about a certain event, or the facilities it affords for encouraging the event to occur. You cannot judge what will happen and when it will happen from an independent assessment of inner-world energies or the outer-world environment. You need to consider the probable event as being the result of their interaction.
Astrologically, aside from the conditioning (B) of a certain group of thought-cells since birth to make them more active or less active than your birthchart (A) indicates them to be, you can get a very good picture of their activity at any particular time by considering their birthchart activity (A) in connection with major progressed aspects, minor progressed aspects and transits. The general rule is that a minor progressed aspect to one of the planets involved in a major progressed aspect accelerates the thought-cell activity set in motion by the major progressed aspect.
Therefore at various periods during the time a major progressed aspect is in operation — due to the re-enforcement influence of a minor progressed aspect — there are several peaks of thought-cell activity of the type indicated by the aspect. And if thought-cell activity were all that had to be considered it would be possible to select the period of greatest thought-cell activity, and proclaim that the indicated event would transpire on that day.
But the facts of our problem involve two different worlds — your inner-world astrological environment and your outer-world physical environment. They involve not only determining during the time a major progressed aspect is in operation when, due to accessory planetary energy provided by a minor progressed aspect, the thought-cell activity rises to high levels, but the amount of environmental resistance to the indicated event at the times these high levels of thought-cell activity are present. All you can do astrologically is to ascertain the times when the cumulative influence of planetary energy of certain types indicates the high points of thought-cell activity relative to the planets or the houses chiefly involved in the anticipated event. And in this, while the transits of the slower moving planets should not be neglected, it will usually be found there is a minor progressed aspect of some consequence also adding energy to the thought-cells involved in the event. Minor progressed aspects are many times more powerful than the same aspect formed by transit.
Many events can only take place during certain definite periods when the outer-world environment favors them happening. A woman experiencing a heavy major progressed affliction involving Saturn may have her hands or feet frozen. But such an event is next to impossible during the summer months. Yet during the cold winter months in certain regions the weather environment would facilitate such an event. No cumulative thought-cell activity indicated by minor progressed aspects would be likely to bring the event in summer, but a minor progressed aspect to Saturn during the winter might very well afford enough additional thought-cell activity to bring the event to pass.
There is often, for many workers, a fixed period of the year for vacations. And an event that the vacation favors might occur during this restricted period, even though, in the time of year when no vacations were permitted, heavier minor progressed aspects were operative, and the major progressed aspect was nearer to its peak.
Some people go duck shooting and some to farm sales at definite times of the year. If during the duck shooting season a gunshot accident were indicated, any minor progressed stimulation might give the thought-cells sufficient activity to attract the accident at that time even though a more powerful set of minor progressed aspects may have occurred several months prior to the duck shooting season; or, if during the stock selling season, any minor progressed stimulation might give the thought-cells sufficient activity to attract a sale, even though a more powerful set of minor progressed aspects may occur several months after the time of the sale.
Student: It seems to be the exception rather than the rule for a single major progressed aspect to be operative during a given period. So what happens to the timing of an event indicated by a given progressed aspect when another major progressed aspect of considerable power reaches its peak influence some six months before, or after, the one under consideration reaches its peak influence?
Elbert Benjamine: If you respond by thinking the thoughts and feelings of both progressed aspects, the electrical energies flowing over your nerves provide a conductor through which the energies of both aspects will reach and accentuate the thought-cell activity they map. This may cause the thought-cell activity to be higher after the first progressed aspect has been completed. In this particular situation the peak influence of thought-cell activity may be shifted due to the additional (D) progressed aspect, and the time of the event shifted correspondingly.
Student: I understand that minor progressed aspects are important as adding accessory energy to the thought-cells. They give my thought-cells more power with which to work than that afforded by the major progressed aspect by itself. But to what planets do I calculate the minor progressed aspects?
Elbert Benjamine: Minor progressed aspects should only be calculated to the birthchart planets, ascendant and MC, and the major progressed planets, ascendant and MC. They should not be calculated to other minor progressed planets or to transit progressed planets, as these have so little power that their influence can be safely neglected.
Student: Am I to understand that major-life events are astrologically indicated by major progressed aspects and only take place when the major progressed aspect mapping the event is simulated by minor progression.
Elbert Benjamine: Yes. At the time a major-life event occurs there is a minor progressed aspect adding energy to the planets or house involved in the event. (Minor events are influenced by minor progressed aspects.)
Just remember that the important events in your life are all indicated and influenced by appropriate major progressed aspects. But as forming high points of thought-cell activity, you will find that an event can be moved, either months forward or back from the major progressed aspect’s peak-power date, by the additional sub-peak of an appropriate minor progressed aspect.
Student: Thank you for explaining how to judge progressed aspects.
Published December 12, 2012
