THE FIXED STARS AND THE FOUR ANGLES (KENDRAS)

In working with parans, the angles are the four gateways that stars have into your chart. If a star does not touch one of the angles of a place or person’s chart (not visible), it was believed in ancient times that the star could not influence that place or person’s chart. This point is expanded in part 4 in the section on star phases.

The four angles-the Ascendant, MC, Descendant, and the Nadir-were seen long ago as four great pillars which held up the ceiling of the moving heavens. These were/are the channels by which the fixed stars translate their energy down to the earth. These points are the connections, the bridge, between us and the stars. Like modern astrological aspects, each particular angle combined its meaning with any star it encountered. However, the angles were connected to the timing of the expression and the intensity of the star energy; rather than altering and grading the expression, as is the case with modern aspect work.

The following guidelines are based primarily on the work of Anonymous and on the modern expression. Future research may bring the modern empirical expression closer to or further from the ancient opinions.

Fixed stars rising on the horizon or on the ascendant (lagna):

According to Anonymous if a star is rising and a planet is on the same or another angle, the expression of the star’s energy manifests throughout a person’s life and is considered to be in its strongest position. The star’s impact on your life, via the planet in paran, is the greatest it can express.

However, it would seem that the most notable feature of a star in the rising position, linked to a planet on any angle, is that its energy appears to peak early. The energy may well be manifested through the whole life but it seems to be very strong when the person is young. Fixed stars on the culmination or mid heavens (karmasthan):

According to Anonymous if a star culminates and a planet is on the same or another angle, the expression of the star’s energy manifests at an early age, continues through a person’s life and gives him or her success in their city of birth. This seems very much like the rising point. One finds in working with this angle, however, that when a star is culminating, its expression is focused on the position held in the community, the career, or social standing. Thus the star’s energy gains expression in one’s life in the middle years, even while ambition or drive was established from quite a young age.

Laurence Olivier also had Mercury culminating as Alcyone reached its culmination. Here we have a fixed star coming to the same angle at the same time as a natal planet. This tends to give very strong outcomes. Alcyone is the alpha star of the Pleiades and as such is discussed later. The Pleiades are linked to mysticism but also to power, life, and death. Olivier did not want to work in mediocre plays or films. He was a Shakespearian specialist, recognized in his prime as a genius for his ability to give the words of the great bard the power and mystery they deserved. Laurence Olivier used his voice and oratory skills in his career (culminating), and the magic and charisma of that voice had as its source the very essence of the power of the Pleiades, Alcyone.

Fixed star on the Descendant (seventh house):

According to the author Anonymous , if a star is setting and a planet is on the same or another angle, the expression of the star’s energy manifests in middle age and in a foreign country. This statement seems to be holding true in modern work. For example, Charles Dickens, the great Victorian novelist, had Athena setting at the same time as his lupiter was setting. Athena is in the heel of Pollux, one of the Twins of Gemini. The presence of Athena in a chart implies that the person has a mission to go forth with an objective. Dickens gained success from an early age onward, but it was his works in the latter years of his life, in which he described the social injustice of Victorian England, which were most important to him. Indeed, social reform became the major driving force of his life in his later years.Athena did not cause Dickens to focus on issues of social justice. However, its

presence in his chart, particularly sharing an angle with a natal planet, indicates that he would have a mission, a cause. Athena is the wounded heel. Dickens suffered hard labor in a children’s factory in his childhood, so in his later life and in keeping with the meaning of Jupiter, he strove to heal this wound by teaching others through his writings.

Fixed star on the Nadir(fourth house):

Anonymous also said that if a star is on the Nadir and a planet is on the same or another angle, the expression of the star’s energy manifests in old age “and their deaths are widely noted and much recognised.”

The Nadir is a great resource, for it represents what lies underneath the surface. Natal planets in this position may take many years before they are expressed, and similarly a star on this point is very strong but hidden, like an underground spring, not immediately apparent but once discovered a real treasure.

Dickens’s Jupiter also reached the Nadir at the same time as Betelgeuse reached its Nadir. Betelgeuse is the right shoulder of Orion and augurs success more than almost any other star in the sky. It shows honor and greatness. Linked with his Jupiter and on the Nadir, this implies that Dickens was able to gain much fame which lived on after his death.

Nativity with a star on the angle:

The strongest position for a star is when it occupies one of the angles at the time of birth. In this situation the energy of the star is focused on that point and functions from the day of birth to the day of death and sometimes even long after.

Pablo Picasso and Galileo Galilei were both born at the moment Sirius was rising. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and is connected to great deeds, the mundane becoming sacred. It can burn if it is not used and its presence on theAscendant at birth is a huge indication that one is going to be asked to do great things. A person may fail in this endeavour but if he or she is brave enough to stride forward and go through the pain and turbulence implied by Sirius, then success is assured. For to be born with such a star rising, or on any of the other angles, implies that desired actions can have far-reaching consequences.

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