Alright, since curiosity is a vice of mine, I couldn't resist the urge to find this.

Apparently, most of the fixed starsw do have some influence and meaning, but only if conjunct a planet in one's natal chart. The author of the web page says "they cast no rays" and so no other aspect really applies, except MAYBE an opposition. I got the impression that even that was a stretch.

The most potent stars seem to have an orb of 1 degree 50 minutes, with Sirius having a potential 2 degree orb. They also seem to affect the flavor of the planet they are conjunct with more than being a potent influence of their own. So their influences are more a matter of fine tuning than anything.

Anyway, I thought this web site was interesting, perhaps the rest of you will agree.

http://www.winshop.com.au/annew/

Martha Lang Wescott and Bernadette Brady have numerous books on Fixed Stars. Reinhold Ebertin does as well.

Not only conjunctions are used for Fixed Stars, but also latitudes of declination--if a planet lies on the same geometric plane as a fixed star they are said to be either parallel or contra-parallel--most astrologers would consider them to be "in aspect".

Solar Fire will display fixed star aspects as either being in conjunction, opposition, paralell or contra-parallel.

Fascinating. Any particular book(s) you'd suggest?

Alot of people on the ZARATHU Forum know alot about fixed stars and asteroids--I would defintely recommend going there for insight:

http://pub48.bravenet.com/forum/4095425731

(if this link doesn't work you might have to join Noel Tyl's forum first--I remember being invited to the ZARATHU forum through being a member on the Tyl forum, I think)

From what I've read of Ebertin's work I would recommend looking into his book on Fixed Stars which can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0866900918/qid=1125878609/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/102-1818357-7068140?v=glance&s=books

Bernadette Brady has also done alot of in-depth work with them. Her most popular would probably be:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/157863105X/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-1818357-7068140?v=glance&s=books

I'm pretty sure Bernadette is the main authority dare I say) on fixed satrs though.

I defintely plan on getting these two books myself--as soon as my credit card clears up a bit.

I posted a topic on fixed stars over there--if you can't get acces to it, i'll fill you in via this thread with the responses I get.

I made a mistake here. It's not fixed stars that go by declinations of latitude (parallel)--it's asteroids. You were right Sean--fixed stars go by conjunctions, and conjunctions only. I THINK. I really don't know much about them. Here's what zarathu had to say from his forum: (and that website you posted is the one he recommends the most) I'll keep you up to date with further replies to my inquisitions:

In my opinion the Anne Wright website is better than any available book. If you downloaded it, it would cover about 1000 pages of data.

As to its use, I find the fixed stars what i consider third tier:

Planets first, Asteroids second, and then the third tier. Not functional on their own, but not to be denied in their impact as fine tuners of the prediction of reality.

Planets are functional on their own but only give the big picture, and assign a major focus. Asteroids take the major focus and make the whole picture clearer and clearer. Fixed stars add detail in places where its needed.

Zarathu

I asked what he thought about Brady's book and Ebertin's. I'm sure I will get more feedback soon enough.

Actually. Shit. I'm really fucking this up. Fixed stars do go by declination of latitude--Solar Fire DOES report those that are parallel with the angles and or planets.

I think that fixed stars outrank asteroids if you are trying to figure out which is more important in a chart delineation. The influence of a certain fixed star when conjunct a specific planet can change the direction of the delineation entirely because the fixed stars are about very specific concepts, and they will greatly color the nature of any planet that they are close to, for the better or worse.

I was just reading Plato's creation myth the Timaeus last night which was talking about how the cosmos was created as this living rational animal with a body and soul. The cosmos actually thinks and has thoughts, and has the form of a sphere. Then Plato goes on to talk about the creation of these other similar creatures which turn out to be the fixed stars. Here is an excerpt:


" Of the heavenly and divine, he created the greater part out of fire, that they might be the brightest of all things and fairest to behold, and he fashioned them after the likeness of the universe in the figure of a circle, and made them follow the intelligent motion of the supreme, distributing them over the whole circumference of heaven, which was to be a true cosmos or glorious world spangled with them all over. And he gave to each of them two movements: the first, a movement on the same spot after the same manner, whereby they ever continue to think consistently the same thoughts about the same things; the second, a forward movement, in which they are controlled by the revolution of the same and the like; but by the other five motions they were unaffected, in order that each of them might attain the highest perfection. And for this reason the fixed stars were created, to be divine and eternal animals, ever-abiding and revolving after the same manner and on the same spot."


What struck me about this is the reference to the fixed stars as living animals which just sit there in the same spot and sort of rotate and think the same thoughts over and over again. These thoughts take the form of language, and this is the astro-logos. Literally the words, or thoughts of the stars. So then astrology really is this language, or at least the attempt to decode the language or thoughts of the stars.

Anyways, I could go on and on, but I'm thinking about writing a paper about this so I will just hold off for now. I would highly recommend that anyone who has some time should read the last half of Plato's Timaeus where the story starts. If anyone is interested then I can send them the specific excerpt that is pertinent to astrology, or maybe I will just post it here.

As far as books on the fixed stars go, there are only two that I would really recommend at the moment, and they are Vivian Robson's 'Fixed Stars and Constellations' and then the Hellenistic astrologer Annonymous of 379's Treatise on the Fixed Stars. The second one is only available through Project Hindsight, and is out of print, however, I might be able to work something out if someone is really into this project. It is a really interesting text.

John Y. Wrote:
Actually. Shit. I'm really fucking this up. Fixed stars do go by declination of latitude--Solar Fire DOES report those that are parallel with the angles and or planets.

Hey, thanks for looking into all this, man.

Yeah, I remember reading something to this effect on the site as well. It wasn't especially stressed - like the conjunctions were. It did seem to hold more weight than was put on the possibility of oppositions. In that latter case, the author mentioned them but seemed to personally discount them - so I got the impression it was of another "school of thought" that the author disagreed with.

Anyway, whats this declination of latitude...?

Chris Wrote:
I think that fixed stars outrank asteroids if you are trying to figure out which is more important in a chart delineation. The influence of a certain fixed star when conjunct a specific planet can change the direction of the delineation entirely because the fixed stars are about very specific concepts, and they will greatly color the nature of any planet that they are close to, for the better or worse.



I was just reading Plato's creation myth the Timaeus last night which was talking about how the cosmos was created as this living rational animal with a body and soul. The cosmos actually thinks and has thoughts, and has the form of a sphere. Then Plato goes on to talk about the creation of these other similar creatures which turn out to be the fixed stars. Here is an excerpt:





" Of the heavenly and divine, he created the greater part out of fire, that they might be the brightest of all things and fairest to behold, and he fashioned them after the likeness of the universe in the figure of a circle, and made them follow the intelligent motion of the supreme, distributing them over the whole circumference of heaven, which was to be a true cosmos or glorious world spangled with them all over. And he gave to each of them two movements: the first, a movement on the same spot after the same manner, whereby they ever continue to think consistently the same thoughts about the same things; the second, a forward movement, in which they are controlled by the revolution of the same and the like; but by the other five motions they were unaffected, in order that each of them might attain the highest perfection. And for this reason the fixed stars were created, to be divine and eternal animals, ever-abiding and revolving after the same manner and on the same spot."





What struck me about this is the reference to the fixed stars as living animals which just sit there in the same spot and sort of rotate and think the same thoughts over and over again. These thoughts take the form of language, and this is the astro-logos. Literally the words, or thoughts of the stars. So then astrology really is this language, or at least the attempt to decode the language or thoughts of the stars.



Anyways, I could go on and on, but I'm thinking about writing a paper about this so I will just hold off for now. I would highly recommend that anyone who has some time should read the last half of Plato's Timaeus where the story starts. If anyone is interested then I can send them the specific excerpt that is pertinent to astrology, or maybe I will just post it here.



As far as books on the fixed stars go, there are only two that I would really recommend at the moment, and they are Vivian Robson's 'Fixed Stars and Constellations' and then the Hellenistic astrologer Annonymous of 379's Treatise on the Fixed Stars. The second one is only available through Project Hindsight, and is out of print, however, I might be able to work something out if someone is really into this project. It is a really interesting text.

Henry Cornelius Agrippa draws heavily on Plato in his, "Three Books on Occult Philosophy."

As a side notation, in much of the occult, only the greatest spirits (archangels or pantheistic gods) had huge ranges of things they presided over. Archetypes, but over a broader realm. The elemental Archangels, also had their sphere/planet. Except for Uriel, the archangel of the element earth and the direction of the poles (archangel of the north in the northern hemisphere - the poles correspond to the earth and the equator to fire - so the directions corresponding to these elements can change depending on your point of reference.) At any rate, these spirits would equate to planetary spirits and have a vast range of things they were "in charge of." Other spirits would gradually become more focused as they went down the celestial hierarchy. For instance Mars/Ares had a broader range and more potent influence than His children (and Mar's moons) Phobos and Diemos - Fear and Loathing. Both qualities could be seen as being in Mar's realm, but also having a lesser and more specific focus in regards to the other two.

Its just interesting in that Many, if not all, or the fixed stars are considered to have the feel of one or two of the planets.

I found this very inspiring. Alice McDermott is the author of the Vertex Axis: A Special Doorway--posted in the thread with the same title.

She has taken her time to reply to my inquiry on Fixed Stars over in Zarathu's forum! I also invited her to come join us in our forum--to teach and inspire us. I have alot of respect for this lady, and if any of you have ever communicated with her, I am sure you do as well--

Here is what she has written in response to my invitation and my inquiry on Fixed Stars:

Hi John Y

Yes, some of Brady's work on fixed stars is one of the fixed star options on Solar Fire itself.

Diana Rosenburg's fixed star information is sold by Esoteric Technologies (Solar Fire), but is a separate report rather than in the program itself. It is one of a number of report options that you can buy to add to Solar Fire.

I would love to visit your site and will pop in and have a look today. I have a guest coming to visit over the next few days so won't have much time for posting, but after that I will be delighted to discuss the Vertex with you all.

Back to the fixed stars.

Most galatic astrology students tend to be very private people who develop profound wisdom as a result of their studies.

The understanding of fixed stars is a deeply profound study that requires the ability to hold the star in the mind in meditation to get the full (to the limit of our abilities) understanding of its energy and function in our galaxy. As you can imagine, at times this can be quite dangerous to the energy field of a human being, so it is best to have someone act as a guide who has successfully navigated these areas. As always, the guide and/or teacher appears when the pupil is ready.

Back in the early 70's I was one of a group of people who studied the fixed stars in this way. The star of the group was an astrologer called Helen Timperon, who was brilliant at encapsulating the energy of various stars. She made extensive notes and drawings in a series of note books, but when she died HER DAUGHTER BURNED ALL THE NOTEBOOKS. I still can't believe that happened.

Some of us became teachers of astrology, and so some of the work we did seems to be filtering through to other astrologers. Helen's brilliant work at times surfaces in the work of more recent astrologers, but I am sure they have no idea where their ideas originally came from.

Anyway, this leads me to say that almost all older astrologers are delighted to help and teach (if they can), younger astrologers. We are all part of a long line of generations of astrologers that go back to the Sumerian era (at least). Most of us carry the "astrology gene" in our DNA. I hope you find someone as skilled and profound as Helen to help, guide and protect you as you (re)develop your knowledge of this area.

WE are also currently in the most exciting time ever in the traceable history of astrology as our computers are giving us the tools to access the wisdom of the stars (Astra = star, Logos = wisdom) in greater and deeper ways than ever before. Young astrologers are in the most marvellous position as they will be the generation of astrologers that will make profound new discoveries in this area.

Just to finish off (and I have posted this several times before) - many years ago I was interested in the Root Words of the various languages of human beings - the words and sounds that have a common basis throughout the world.

I discovered that the word ZODIAC is very sacred indeed. It can be divided into three syllables, ZO means circle, DI means light and AC means great. So Zodiac can be translated as GREAT CIRCLE OF LIGHT - much more apt and profound than the Greek translation of the same word as Circle of Animals!! After all, it is not even a circle of animals as the current description of the zodiac contains animals, insects, birds, androids (Libra) and humans.

Alice

Thanks Alice!

Yeah man. Post it here!

So far, what has struck me as most accurate is when a Fixed Star is angular in your chart. For example, I have Atria conjunct my Midheaven within a degree. I know Chris hasn't recommended Anne Wright but she has apparently done profound work with them and her website offers nearly 1000 pages of free information--she is also available to speak to if you have any questions--just email her--anyways.

So Atria. As far as she is concerned (I haven't checked out Robson's or any of the others yet) Atria represents "interest in architecture and freemasonry".

Jesus Christ. I've been a masonry worker for the past 6 years of my life--that's what I do 60 hours a week. That's pretty bold and specific, but dead on. I don't just do masonry because I am young and it's "just a job" to give me money--I actually love it and take keen interest. It's going to be a while before astrology takes my career to the right height, and masonry is what is going to keep me busy and happy in the mean-time.

Important~

http://www.zyntara.com/starlight_tutorials_paransaspects.htm

http://www.zyntara.com/starlight_tutorials_skyparans.htm

Good reference to the meaning of some important fixed stars:

http://www.astrologycom.com/fixedstars.html