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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Presenting Part 2 in the Zodiac Series



In this 2nd  installment of the Zodiac Series we view the Cancer quadrant.  (See Stone Circles for 1st part of zodiac series.) When 0degrees Cancer is on the MC, Raleigh is at the lowest point in its daily spin around Earth’s axis.  In the sky, the visible length of ecliptic is bisected, and we can see as much coming up in the East as there is going down in the West.  As we climb through Leo and Virgo to the beginning of Libra, we see the visible length of ecliptic shortening in the East and stretching out further to the West.
  
Beginning with the culmination* of Cancer we enter a protracted process of losing our ability to objectively perceive what is coming next.  By the time 0degrees Virgo is on the MC we are losing more than a degree of visibility in the East for every 5degrees the Earth turns.  The diminished ability to see what is coming is balanced by the stretching out of the ecliptic in the West.

Sometimes I think of a canoe going down a river with thick foliage along the banks. On a long, straight stretch the paddler can see what is coming, but when she reaches a curve the view of the waters up ahead is obstructed by the foliage along the banks.  She can look back on the straight stretch and see far, but the curve up ahead makes it impossible to see upcoming rapids or other dangers.
   
How far will that line representing the midheaven move to the left, showing a shrinking view of the future, before it begins to open out again?  In the 3rd installment, showing charts for the Libra quadrant culminating from Raleigh, we’ll see just how short the oncoming vista gets. 


* For observers north of Earth’s equator, a point in the heavens culminates when it is exactly due south.  For example when the Sun culminates at midday, it is seen due south.