ASTROLOGIA MUNDA - Classical Astrologer Weblog

Book IV – Astrologia Munda
Appendix IV
Appendix IV
Excerpt on times of fertility and barrenness judged from the annual Revolution of
the Year. From Part 8, Chapter One, lines [11] – [12]:
Abu Ma’shār On Historical Astrology: The Book of Religions and Dynasties (On the
Great Conjunctions) –
Translated from the original Arabic to English by Keiji Yamamoto and Charles
Burnett; published by Brill Academic Publishers ©2000
«[11] As for the years indicating fertility and barrenness, you should look at the horoscopes of the
conjunctional or oppositional Beginnings, 1 and at their degrees. If the degree of the conjunction or
the opposition applies to Jupiter, especially if it (Jupiter) has a dignity in it 2
, and if the Lord of the
Ascendant is made fortunate, together with the safety of the Lord of the fourth , and the
terminal point of the year from the ascendant of the religion, or of the shift of the triplicity, arrives
at the position of Jupiter or Venus by aspect or by ray, fertility occurs in that year, especially if the
Lord of the second is making the Lord of the Ascendant fortunate, or applies to it, or
aspects it from a fortunate position, especially if the Lot of Fortune aspects it; then it is an indicator
of an increase in fertility.»
This is one of the paragraphs that Ramesey has recorded in his Astrologia
Munda and taken nearly verbatim from this chapter and paragraph from Abu
Ma’shār. There are a couple of things made clearer by reading Abu Ma’shār’s
text. Let us compare these two paragraphs.
First, Ramesey writes,
«Wherefore in this matter have regard to the Ascendants of the conjunction and prevention of the
Luminaries to the Revolution in their places.»
1 I.e. the horoscope of the New (conjunctional) Moon or Full (preventional) Moon. Abu Ma’shār has
explained in [9] of this same chapter that, «As for the question of things of a general kind like an
epidemic, a plague, fertility, barrenness, and rain; this is known from the horoscopes of the universal
Beginnings occurring before the parallelism of the greater luminary with the spring tropic, and at the
time of its parallelism, and from the Moon in its two positions, i.e. the position of the conjunction (New
Moon) and that of opposition (Full Moon) in the years of the conjunctions or other .»
2 I.e. if Jupiter has some right of dominion in the degree of the lunation
286