Chapter II
of this section.
The ancients also included the places of the Moon’s Nodes, and it is usually found that the transit of the South Node over any of the Significators is attended by unfortunate results.
With these observations as a general guide to the cosmical factors involved in the planetary motions, the reader will be able to take a more intelligent interest in the foundations of his study than is the usual case from the pursuit of the subject by rule-of-thumb methods.
When we come to the consideration of the Moon as a cosmical factor we are face to face with one of the most difficult and evasive problems. For many centuries astronomers grappled with this inconstant factor with small success, and at the present day the problems attaching to the vagaries of lunar motion are in anything but a satisfactory condition. Prior to the time of Ptolemy nothing was known of the Moon except that it had a certain mean motion and formed its syzygies at definite periods, the mean values of which were very closely known. But certainly nothing was known regarding the inequalities of motion which are found to exist. Ptolemy discovered the equation due to the
## action of the Sun upon the Moon in its orbit. This is called the
Evection. Tycho later discovered that a further equation was due to the disturbance caused by the Sun along the vector. Both these equations were employed by Kepler. But of these, later astronomers have added one after another equation, going so far as to employ the action due to Venus and Jupiter, while ignoring that due to the action of the other planets upon the Moon. Buckhardt, whose formulae were used in the calculation of the Nautical Almanac for many years, employs no less than 37 equations of the Moon’s mean longitude. Indeed, the whole business has become farcical. The fact is that only three of these equations are necessary in order to obtain the Moon’s true place in the ecliptic at any time, and for the syzygy only one equation is necessary. The trouble has arisen from the fact that the eccentricity of the Moon’s orbit has been wrongly estimated, and most of these equations now employed by astronomers are effectual only in correcting this false estimate. Kepler gives the maximum equation to centre as 4° 59′ 59″, while modern astronomers have given it as 6° 18′ 28″. Neither of these is quite correct, though Kepler is much nearer the truth.
Another problem in connection with the Moon that has puzzled astronomers for a long time and is still in the region of experimental science is what is known as the Secular equation. It is found that by taking the present mean motion of the Moon and applying the various equations, found necessary to bring the calculations into line with observations of the Moon’s position in the zodiac, a considerable difference is found to exist between the calculated place of the Moon and its recorded position at the time of ancient eclipses. According to our modern Tables, ancient eclipses happened sooner than they should have done, or, in other words, the Moon was more advanced in its orbit than our Tables require. The inference is that the Moon was formerly moving quicker in a smaller orbit than now, or conversely, the Moon is now receding and getting farther from the Earth. Consequently its action on the tides must be diminishing, and also its action on the equatorial mass of the Earth, which is considered to be the chief factor in the production of what is called the Precession of the Equinoxes. Yet whereas by one statement the disturbance due to the Moon is diminishing, another statement shows that the Precession of the Equinoxes is increasing! =Voila le debacle.=
All these anomalies and contradictions are due, as I shall show in my new Tables and Thesis, to the importation of false factors into the problem of the Moon’s motion, which, in fact, is extremely simple, perfectly regular, and affected only by its anomaly or distance from the aphelion and, where the time equation is employed, by the increase of radius. Jupiter and Venus have no more action on the Moon than have Mars and Saturn, in fact none at all, and the only body that has any action upon the lunar orb is the Sun, which it exerts indirectly through its
## action on the Earth.
These problems need not, however, vex the minds of the student of Astrology. It is sufficient for him that he has the place of the Moon calculated for him in the ephemeris reduced from the Nautical or other official Almanac. It is important, however, that he should know that such problems exist.
Sir Isaac Newton was first led to the subject of Astronomy by his thoroughness and scientific propensity. He studied Astrology, and proceeded to the study of Astronomy the better to understand and deal with the problems that the predictive science presented. For it is to be observed that Astrology in his day was entirely in the hands of astronomers, who calculated their own ephemerides and pursued the higher methods of astrological calculation as presented in my “Profnostic Astronomy.” Kepler avowed himself to be convinced of the truth of the science of Astrology, and showed himself to be a competent critic as much by his understanding of the astronomical problems involved as by his marvellous forecast of the rise and fall of Wallenstein. Tycho, his colleague and collaborator, also a great astronomical discoverer, was a professed Astrologer, and added to his stipend by the calculation of horoscopes. Astrology is quite a reputable study, and needs but to be emancipated from the service of a horde of half-educated plagiarists and parasites in order to take its place once more among subjects of serious consideration by the learned. Astronomy is interesting, but to be made useful it must find interpretation in terms of our daily life and common needs. It is in this connection that Astrology has played Cinderella since the days of official science. The day is not far off when it will come into its own.
## CHAPTER VII REVOLUTIONS, ECLIPSES, INGRESSES, ETC.
Beyond the various time measures and indicators mentioned in Section IV,