“ W O R L D T H E M E ” O F T H E C O S M O S

THEMA MUNDI

By Ashely Owens for Santa Monica Astrology Meetup – 04-10-16 ©

THEMA MUNDI

What is Thema Mundi?

• Latin term

• Originates from Hellenistic

Astrology

• A chart which depicts an

alternative to the

commonly accepted

Aries ascendant as the

traditional chart ordering

• Cancer rising

THE NATURAL CHART

• Cancer rising chart is the “natural chart”

• A Moon chart:

Cancer is ruled by the Moon, which colors the essence of the chart

• Used as a teaching tool to more accurately understand the psychological and psycho-social development of an individual

OVERVIEW

What will be covered in this presentation?

• History of Hellenistic Astrology

• Basic Principles of Hellenistic Astrology

• The World Theme chart

• Other Moon chart systems

HISTORY OF HELLENISTIC ASTROLOGY

• Classical system of Hellenistic Astrology developed from

the Greeks during the Hellenistic period, which began

around 336 BC with the leadership of Alexander the

Great, up until the Roman Empire took over in 31 CE.

• Prior to this, the Greeks adopted their astrological

philosophies from Egyptian Astrology systems.

• Alexander the Great’s conquests to Mesopotamia

brought concepts of Astrology from Babylonian priests

who were star watchers. They observed patterns of stars

(constellations) symbolized in a 12 sign zodiac.

HELLENISTIC ORIGINS

• Blending this with the former Greek Astrology transformed into what is known as Hellenistic Astrology, or Horoscopic Astrology.

• Horoscopic Astrology (use of horoscopes) were written in Greek and Latin.

• Astrology is a Greek word, meaning, “science of the stars”.

• From Hellenistic Astrology, we get Natal Astrology, Predictive Astrology, Electional Astrology and the “houses” where the signs inhabit.

HELLENISTIC ORIGINS

• After the Romans took over, they adopted Hellenistic Astrology and developed laws and regulations of how it was to be used.

• Hellenistic Astrology was a sidereal, star based, primarily lunar-oriented system that disappeared with the Mother Goddess during the rise of the West Roman Empire.

• Hindu Astrology (Vedic) preserves the core Hellenistic principles.

BASICS OF HELLENISTIC ASTROLOGY

THE SEVEN CLASSICAL PLANETS :

• In Greek, “planet” means “wanderer”

• These 7 wanderers could be seen without a telescope

• Moon

• Sun

• Mercury

• Venus

• Mars

• Jupiter

• Saturn

ASTROLOGICAL ETYMOLOGY

• The 7 days of the week were translated from the 7 classical planets.

• Origins from Hellenistic period during the Roman Empire.

• The Romans transposed their Gods & Goddesses onto the Gods & Goddesses of Greek Mythologies which describe and represent the planetary energies.

GOD/DESSES OF THE WEEK

• Monday: Artemis – Diana

(Moon Goddess)

• Tuesday: Ares – Mars

(War God)

• Wednesday: Hermes – Mercury (Messenger God)

• Thursday: Zeus – Jupiter;

(King of the Gods)

• Friday: Aphrodite – Venus;

(Goddess of Love)

• Saturday: Chronos – Saturn;

(God of Agriculture)

• Sunday: Helios – Apollo;

(Sun God of the Heavens)

Septagram ( or “Heptagram”)

7-pointed star of the

astrological week

RELIGION & SCIENCE

• Sun-day: Planetary Metals

Christian solar deity

-day of worship

• Saturn-day:

Jewish Sabbath

-day of rest

(observe laws &

customs)

• Secular society…

weekends off from the 9-5 work schedule

TRADITIONAL RULERSHIPS

• Traditional Rulerships exclude the “Modern” Rulerships of the

outer planets in Western Astrology: Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

• Moon: Cancer

• Sun: Leo

• Mercury: Virgo (and Gemini)

• Venus: Libra (and Taurus)

• Mars: Scorpio (and Aries)

• Jupiter: Sagittarius (and Pisces)

• Saturn: Capricorn (and Aquarius)

Q: Why dual rulerships except the Sun & Moon?

This can be seen in the thema mundi chart…

THEMA MUNDI

Cancer Rising Chart

• Chart is turned

90 degrees

• NOT a formula of

Mars=Aries=1st house

• Signs and houses

not the same thing

Signs in houses:

• Cardinal in Angular

• Fixed in Succedent

• Mutable in Cadent

Hellenistic Planets in Dignity:

• 7 classical planets’

respective rulerships

• Moon-Saturn:

Cancer-Capricorn

• The 1st & 7th houses

straddle both

hemispheres (gives significance to potency

of mid-house degrees)

CLASSICAL MOON CHART

• Aquarius-Gemini:

Dual rulership

• Mirrors creational

offspring of the

Sun (father) &

Moon (mother)

• Each dual ruler is of

masculine & feminine

signs

HELLENISTIC PLANETS IN DIGNITY

DIURNAL VS. NOCTURNAL SUN

• Diurnal or Nocturnal charts

determined by the Sun

- Above = Diurnal

- Below = Nocturnal

• Thema Mundi is

a Nocturnal chart:

-Subjective

-Explains psychological

and psycho-social

development of SELF in world.

DIURNAL & NOCTURNAL PLANETS

• Diurnal = Day (warm)

• Day planets: Sun, Jupiter & Saturn (malefic moderated by heating)

- Sun rules diurnal chart (exaltation in Aries/10th)

• Nocturnal = Night (cool)

• Night planets: Moon, Venus & Mars (malefic moderated by cooling)

• Neutral: Mercury

- If it rises before the Sun it is Nocturnal

- If it rises after the Sun it is Diurnal

• Thema Mundi chart= Nocturnal (Sun) & ruled by Moon

THE NATURAL CHART - CARDINALITY

• Congruent w/ Cardinality,

Cancer in the 1st

• Cardinal = “initiate”

• Initiation of life from

the ascendant.

• Entry into the

world from mother.

(Cancer archetype)

• Moon = home

and the womb.

• Feminine sign (inward)

THE NATURAL CHART - CARDINALITY

Cardinal Aries in 10th

• MC = recognition,

Fame & success

• Aries = Self, &

fiery initiative.

- Leadership qualities

• 10th House = gov’t

and military (Mars)

• Aries vs. Capricorn MC:

-Fire vs. Earth

-Masculine vs. Feminine

THE NATURAL CHART - CARDINALITY

Capricorn & Saturn in 7th

• 7th house = marriage &

partnerships

-social responsibility &

commitment.

• Saturn’s exaltation

in Libra = 4th (not 7th)

-4th: Earth/Agriculture

-Saturn: Satu, “sowing”

-Time/Chronos

-Death

-Gravity

• Saturn’s fall Aries in 10th (not 1st )

THE NATURAL CHART - CARDINALITY

Libra & Venus in 4th

• Libra: social etiquette

& customs from family

• 4th house of Death

(water houses)

-Sun fallen in Libra,

schism of personality

-Dying into another,

compromise

• Venus: love & relationships

-conditioning of formative years

NOCTURNAL - FIXITY

Leo & Sun in 2nd

• Leo= self-expression

-creative play

• Sun: Personality traits

-Autonomy (mother)

• 2nd house = fixed,

solidifies traits

-house domain

• Leo vs. Taurus:

-fire vs. earth

-masculine vs. feminine

-royalty, kingdom (resources)

NOCTURNAL - FIXITY

Scorpio & Mars in 5th

• Mars: sex; male planet

in female sign

• Scorpio = water

-fluids, merging

-Intimacy & sharing

-act of conceiving

• 5th House = children

play, fun & romance…

-deeper consequences of

a shared person.

NOCTURNAL - MUTABILITY

Virgo & Mercury in 3rd

• Mercury = cognition

(Mercury is still ruler of 3rd)

• 3rd house: school

-social peer group,

or siblings

-neighborhood

• Virgo = student

-refining skills

-writing & language

-learning rules

NOCTURNAL - MUTABILITY

Sagittarius & Jupiter in 6th

• Jupiter: teacher

of life’s lessons

(not the student of

Mercury/Virgo)

-gains of wisdom

• 6th: house of service

(12th serve/suffer axis)

-house of loss

(lessons of Jupiter)

-Health or disease

• Sagittarius: Religion/Spirituality

Practice is daily in the 6th

DIURNAL - FIXITY

Aquarius & Saturn in 8th

• 8th house: death & sex

- “le petite mort”

• Saturn = death

• Aquarius: community

-In the 8Th of intimacy?

Sex is communal/public:

-STDs

-Technology/internet

-Aqu/Leo axis: royal courtpublic consummation

-Secondary house for

marriage (contracts)

-Weddings congregate groups

DIURNAL - MUTABILITY

Pisces & Jupiter in 9th

• Jupiter: expansion

-world bigger than

local env. (3rd axis)

(Jupiter is still ruler

of the 9th)

• Pisces: dreams

-beliefs, spirituality

-other worlds

• 9th house: overseas

-water sign Pisces

-foreign lands

DIURNAL FIXITY

Taurus & Venus in 11th

• Venus = wealth

-satiation from

hard work (Taurus)

• Taurus: Bull

-plows the fields

-harvest

• 11th house: gains

-achievement of goals

-resources

-business network

DIURNAL MUTABILITY

Mercury & Gemini in 12th

• Mercury: twins

-gender-neutral

-spirit bodies

• 12th house: death

-mutability to change

form

• Gemini: (glyph)

-doorway/gateway

to the other side

-communication w/

spiritual realms & dreams

PSYCHOLOGICAL & PSYCHO-SOCIAL CONTINUUM

• Thema Mundi wheel of life:

-born, identify w/ mother

-play & personality

-school & conditioning

-relationships & dating

-sex & intimacy

-belief of experiences

-marriage

-community

-dreams & visions

-aspiration of dreams

-achievement & success

-communion with death

THEMA MUNDI

• An idealized, figurative

chart of the human

experience.

• Moon chart of Self

• Basis for planetary

dignities

• Patterns of geometry:

origin of Ptolemaic Aspects

ASPECTS OF THE THEMA MUNDI

Ptolemaic aspects:

• Venus-ruled signs

Sextile luminaries

• Mars-ruled signs

Square luminaries

• Jupiter-ruled signs

Trine luminaries

• Saturn-ruled signs

Opposite luminaries

PTOLEMAIC ASPECTS

• Venus is the lesser benefic

-Sextiles are seen as a lesser beneficial aspect

• Mars is the lesser malefic

-Squares are seen as a lesser malefic aspect

• Jupiter is the greater benefic

-Trines are seen as a greater beneficial aspect

• Saturn is the greater malefic

-Oppositions are seen as a greater malefic aspect

AXIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Luminaries with Saturn:

• Sun selects

• Saturn rejects

• Moon includes

• Saturn excludes

Mercury with Jupiter:

• Mercury questions

• Jupiter confirms

Venus with Mars:

• Venus unifies

• Mars severs

WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

• The Thema Mundi is not a new concept, it is a technique over 2,000 years old…

Modern Astrologers are interpreting this ancient system:

-Robert Schmidt, Ellen Black and Project Hindsight, who have done significant research and translation of ancient Hellenistic work in their Conclave 2006 and 2007 presentations (projecthindsight.com)

-Astrologer, Eric Francis has an artistic bent on interpreting this system on his website planetwaves.com

-Astrologer, Douglas Noblehorse’s articles from quincunxastrology.com

-Online forums & courses from Astrologers: Bill Johnston, Curt Manwaring, Alan White, Chris Brennan, Patrick Watson & Nick Dagan Best.

OTHER MOON CHART SYSTEMS

• Astrologer, Jade Luna, has done significant work in interpreting

ancient Hellenistic Astrological work from the Yavanajataka.

• The Yavanajataka, meaning, “from the Greeks”, is a

translation from Greek to Sanskrit, which is the oldest text of

Indian Astrology found.

-Yavanas = “Greeks”

- jataka = “nativity”

• Jade has reconstructed the Yavanajataka into a working

system of Asterian Astrology, which is a lunar-oriented system,

alike the Hellenistic Thema Mundi.

(jadesolluna.com)

OTHER MOON CHART SYSTEMS

Hindu (Vedic) Astrology:

“Eastern” Astrology preserves the core sidereal, moon-based, Hellenistic principles.

• Alexander the Great’s conquests to Northern India brought Hellenistic Astrology, influencing the formation and evolution of Hindu (Vedic) Astrology.

• Greek Astrology was modified to Indian culture to fit astral religion.

• Vedic Astrology uses 27 Lunar Mansions: “Nakshatras”

• 360 degrees segmented into 27 parts = 13deg 20min

• The moon spends 1 day transiting each lunar mansion

ASTERIAN ASTROLOGY

Moon chart system:

• Uses Hellenistic & Vedic God & Goddess archetypes

• 27 star divisions (lunar mansions)

• 27 star clusters in and around the constellations

• Orbit of the moon is 27.3 days

(a moonth)

• Appx. 1 day for moon

to transit a “sign”

• Sign is 13deg 20min, not 30.

MOON CHARTS

• Sidereal & Tropical zodiacs were developed and aligned

appx 1900BC.

-These systems are no longer in sync

• Sidereal zodiac includes the procession of the equinoxes,

which indicate what is observed in the sky at “real time”.

• Tropical zodiac is static, which symbolize the constellations

- no direct relationship with the ecliptic.

• Hellenistic, Hindu & Asterian Astrology systems are based

upon the Greco-Roman, sidereal, lunar-based Astrology

SUN AND MOON

• Western Astrology uses Sun signs

Sun vs. Moon:

-Sun defines the power of a person

-Moon defines the nature & primary personality of a person in horoscopic astrology.

• Need to re-connect to our natural selves in relationships to ourselves & others:

-Natural rhythms (Moon), of our bodies (1st house) is the ultimate act of self-care and self-love (Cancer).

-FIN-

Thema Mundi = (old) NEW “World Order” chart

Represented by the Moon Mother

Honoring of our true natures

Thank you