“In reading
your book, [Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart], I
noticed, in determining the balances for the elements, modes,
hemispheres, and quadrants that 1) you divide the points
into groups of personal planets, personal angles, and outer
planets and 2) you include the Part of Fortune, North Node,
and South Node, and 3) you include Chiron in outer planets,
and 4) it seems that the points are not weighted for scoring
of the balances.
In Solar Fire, the default method of scoring the balances
is weighted. The Sun, Moon, and Ascendant are multiplied
by 3, Mercury, Venus and Mars by 2, and Jupiter through
Neptune by 1. Chiron, the Midheaven, the Nodes, and the
Part of Fortune are weighted 0—that is, they don’t
effect the scoring of the balances at all.
Having great respect for Kevin Burk and for Solar Fire,
whose methods seem to be slightly at odds, I am confused
as to whether some points should be weighted, and if so,
by what factor”
Kevin Answers:
Robert,
Thank you for your kind words! Point systems
are entirely a matter of choice. Astrological interpretation
is an art, and ultimately, you simply need to choose what
approach works best for you. I personally do not find the
point systems (or at least the point systems you described)
to be useful, so I don’t use them. I do use other point
systems, however.
Let me take a moment to clarify what we’re
talking about here, before I go too much further. When I look
at a chart, the first thing I want to see is the balance between
the four elements and the three modalities. I find this information
valuable in assessing a person’s temperament and beginning
to create a context for more detailed and specific interpretations
of the chart. The most important elements to me are the “personal
planets” which in this case include the Sun, Moon, Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These seven visible planets
are the ones that are the most directly involved in influencing
individual personality traits.
I next consider the angles and the personal
points, including the Midheaven, the Ascendant, the Moon’s
Nodes, the Part of Fortune, and frequently, the Vertex. These
points, while important in their own right, are not as influential
as the planets. The planets are physical bodies and represent
our essential nature. The angles, on the other hand, are sensitive
points only; they do not radiate light, and they do not represent
urges or needs. Rather, they represent perspective and points
of view. As such, they’re important to take into consideration
(particularly when there is a significant difference between
one’s perspective and one’s nature—say a
person with no fixed planets, but primarily fixed angles).
Finally, I include the outer planets (and Chiron, which I
consider to be an outer planet) but since they represent generational
influences, I do not pay much attention to them in this context.
Solar Fire (and most other astrology programs)
offer a variety of ways to “weight” the scores
based on the planets and angles. Depending on the program
or the point system, you could have a chart with a “Water
Score” of 8, or a “Fixed” score of 3. I
personally do not find this to be useful, because the weighting
factors are too subjective.
The chart weightings are used as a way
to identify certain “themes” or “signatures”
in the chart. I classify these as “temperament”
and address them to start building a context for the rest
of my interpretation. The weightings are not about which planets
or points are more important than others, because that’s
not really a question that can be answered. Each planet in
the chart has equal importance. One can’t question if
Mercury is more important than Venus, for example, even in
the context of one’s personality. Both Mercury and Venus
contribute significantly to our personal expression; they
simply represent different arenas. In terms of how our personalities
form and express, the “personal” planets are unquestionably
the most important, but I personally don’t find making
relative distinctions between them to be helpful.
The fact that the settings that Robert mentions
are the “default” settings is important: Solar
Fire is one of the most customizable programs you’re
likely to find. If you don’t like the point system,
or want to include or exclude certain points from your calculations,
you can easily do so. Play with it to see if you can find
a set of parameters that helps you to gain important insight
into your charts. Or ignore the point systems completely.
Where I do use points and find them helpful
is when evaluating a planet’s essential dignity. Here,
I use the standard 5 points for rulership, 4 for exaltation,
3 for triplicity, 2 for term and 1 for face, with –5
for detriment, -4 for fall, and –5 for being peregrine.
Even this system has variations, however! You can choose to
award triplicity points only for in-sect triplicity, or to
include out-of-sect triplicity as well. [And if you have no
idea what I’m talking about here, see Chapter 6!]
