Parans aka Mundane Aspects

[glaucus]

I have a strong interest in parans which Kenneth Bowser refers to as mundane aspects because I desire a Multidimensional Astrology that goes beyond just using Ecliptic Longitude which is the zodiac chart. I have been using Right Ascension (Equatorial Longitude) and Declination (Equatorial Latitude) years before I started using parans regularly.


After reading about Oblique Ascension and Oblique Descension, I understand parans a lot more.

I already know that objects that conjunct in Right Ascension have a corresponding culminating,culminating paran (culminate together) and a corresponding anti-culminating,anti-culminating paran (anti-culminate together) and that objects that oppose in Right Ascension have two corresponding culminating,anti-culminating parans (one culminates while the other anti-culminates).


I read that the formula for the rising, setting, culminating, and anticulminating of planets rely on right ascension and declination of the planet and the geographic latitude of the horoscope

Right Ascension, Oblique Ascension, and Oblique Descension are factors in parans.

The Sidereal Time paran connections between objects are the result of the objects being connected via the factors of Right Ascension,Oblique Ascension,Oblique Descension.


Culminating, Anti-Culminating are factors in Right Ascension
Rising is a factor in Oblique Ascension
Setting is a factor in Oblique Descension




Right Ascension: the angular distance eastward along the celestial equator from the vernal equinox to the intersection of the hour circle that passes through the body; expressed in hours and minutes and second; used with declination to specify positions on the celestial sphere

Oblique Ascension: an arc of the equator, intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator which rises together with a celestial object, in an oblique sphere; or the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator that comes to the horizon with a celestial object

Oblique Descension: the degree or arc of the equator which descends, with a celestial object, below the horizon of an oblique sphere.



Robert Hand's explanation of oblique ascension:

First an explanation of oblique ascension. On the equator all positions on the celestial sphere, regardless of declination, rise along with their right ascensions at 0 degrees declination. This is because at the terrestrial equator the celestial equator rises in the east exactly perpendicular to the horizon, hence the term "right" ascension, "right" meaning perfectly upright. But either north or south of the terrestrial equator positions on the celestial sphere do not rise with their positions measured in right ascension. They rise along some other degree on the celestial equator. This other degree is the oblique (or slantwise) ascension of our hypothetical position on the celestial sphere. It is called oblique ascension because the celestial equator at latitudes other than 0 degrees north or south rises slantwise or obliquely in the east, the further away from 0 terrestrial latitude (the equator), the more obliquely. Therefore, the oblique ascension of position A can be defined as whatever degree on the equator may be rising when A exactly touches the horizon assuming that A is not on the celestial equator, i.e., that A has a declination not equal to 0."

www.arhatmedia.com/tropzo.htm



Philip Sedgwick noted about parans:

"While some astrologers scratch their heads, others investigate the angular relations along the potent Celestial Equator circular reference.

Often when measuring to the Celestial Equator instead of the ecliptic, other unnoted parallels and contra-parallels emerge. Again, a parallel or contra-parallel on this circle operates the same as such an alignment on the other circle.

Meanwhile the factor of the Paran adds a doubled effect as well. Using either the Celestial Equator or Ecliptic, a Paran technically can be measured. A Paran on the Celestial Equator would not correlate to one on the Ecliptic. And again, remaining attached to only one sphere of measure ignores other critical angles calling out for interpretive attention. Paran, comes from paranatellonta, meaning literally, "rising side by side." This refers to a transiting object and natal object rising over the horizon and meridian at the same time. Many combinations of Parans are available coming from the factors of oblique ascension, oblique descension, and right ascension.

www.noeltyl.com/~noeltyl3/techniques/011130.html



Rob Hand in Essays on Astrology defines parans as “simultaneous transits over two or more bodies over the horizon or meridian circles of a given place at the same time.” Hand defines seven types of parans as follows:

1. Two bodies rising together (conjunct the oblique Ascendant).

2. One rises while the other sets (oblique Ascendant opposition the oblique Descendant).

3. One rises, the other culminates or anti-culminates (oblique Ascendant square right ascension).

4. Two bodies set together (conjunct the oblique Descendant).

5. One body sets, the other culminates or anti-culminates (oblique Descendant square right ascension).

6. Two bodies culminate or anti-culminate together (conjunct the right ascension).

7. One culminates while the other anti-culminates (right ascension opposition right ascension).

www.alabe.com/text/Dineen-AstofPlace.html

[glaucus]

Aspects in Mundo
by Kenneth Bowser


This article appeared in The Mountain Astrologer Magazine in 1996

Several terms in contemporary use are huddled under the umbrella of aspects in mundo: mundane conjunctions, squares and oppositions, parans, paranatellontai, mundane aspects and aspects in the mundane sphere. They all refer to that category of aspects which takes the Earth's equator as the point of reference, hence the Latin word mundo from mundus, that is, "the world." Accordingly, instead of celestial longitude, which is the argument for aspects in zodiaco, aspects in mundo are generally reckoned in right ascension expressed in time, or less often in degrees of arc without a zodiacal sign attached. Mundane aspects have fallen out of general use because they are regarded as too much of a bother to calculate from scratch, and right ascension has been omitted from most astrological ephemerides for decades. The only astrological ephemeris in print that gives right ascension as a tabular entry is The American Sidereal Ephemeris—no doubt because siderealists consider aspects in mundo the strongest class of aspects.

Few Westerners embrace the sidereal zodiac, but right ascension, or RA as it is commonly called, is a tropical, not a sidereal coordinate, and can be part of the lexicon of both major schools, especially since it played a role in Medieval, Renaissance and Enlightenment Age Western astrology. However, until the advent of computers, unless one of the national astronomical ephemerides were available such as the (French) Connaissance des Temps, The (British) Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris or the American Ephemeris & Nautical Almanac (now retitled The Astronomical Almanac), the only options were to buy the excellent American Sidereal Ephemeris, or calculate right ascension and declination from celestial latitude and longitude, a process few astrologers have been willing to undertake. For the undaunted, the formulae for the conversion of celestial longitude and latitude to right ascension and declination are appended to the end of this article.

The rationale of mundane aspects and the requisite use of right ascension and declination has now been incorporated into most of the big, general purpose astrological programs by an option for aspects in mundo; and since these aspects are not referenced to the ecliptic, they give the same results no matter which zodiac or ayanamsa is employed.

Generally, astrologers favor longitude while astronomers favor right ascension, although many astrological applications employ R.A.: astrocartographic lines are always calculated and drawn from right ascension and declination coordinates; the local sidereal time of a horoscope is really the right ascension of the local meridian; and the rising, culminating, setting and anti-culminating positions of the bodies, that is, their positions in mundo, are most easily grasped when expressed in terms of right ascension for bodies which are not on the ecliptic. Unless a body is directly on the ecliptic, it will not rise, culminate or set precisely with its ecliptic position, but rather with some other position which varies with one's terrestrial latitude and the declination of the body. Only the Sun is always on the ecliptic, but most of the planets can have enough celestial latitude off the ecliptic to make a significant difference vis-à-vis their rising and setting positions in zodiaco which are merely schematic, and their rising/setting positions in mundo which are actual. Saturn can have more than 2 1⁄2° of latitude, Mercury almost 5°, the Moon more than 5°, Mars almost 7°, Venus more than 8 1⁄2° and Pluto more than 17°. Consequently, since horoscopes are judged mainly in terms of celestial longitude, the other coordinates—celestial latitude, right ascension and declination, which contain relationships not apparent from the perspective of mere longitude, are completely missed, unless the positions of the planets in mundo are calculated. The table which contains these data is called a speculum.

Celestial longitude (see figure 1) is reckoned along the ecliptic which is the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, measured eastward from the vernal equinox from 0° to 360° in 30° sections which are the tropical signs; or eastward along the ecliptic with α Virginis (Spica) defined as 29° Virgo 06' 05", also measured from 0° to 360° in 30° sections which are the sidereal signs. This is the fiducial of the Fagan-Allen ayanamsa used by western siderealists. The principal ayanamsa used in Vedic astrology, Lahiri, defines Spica as 0° Libra 00' 00". Celestial latitude is measured above and below (north and south) the ecliptic from 0° to 90° at right angles to the ecliptic, such that 0° latitude is the ecliptic itself.

Right ascension is measured along the celestial equator, which some may think a misnomer, because the celestial equator is really the terrestrial equator extended beyond the limits of the Earth. In fact, right ascension and declination are directly analogous to terrestrial latitude and longitude extended out into space. Right ascension is measured eastward from the vernal equinox usually in time, i.e., hours, minutes and seconds from 0 to 24. Declination is measured from the celestial equator, where its value is 0°, north and south to the poles, where it has 90°. A body will appear in the zenith of the terrestrial parallel which has the same value as its declination, which means that a star, planet, spacecraft or meteor will not appear directly overhead if you live at 37° north latitude, unless the body has 37° north declination. Note that the Earth's poles, which are just the terrestrial poles extended off the planet, are inclined at an angle to the ecliptic. This angle, currently 23° 26' 14" (although it varies by almost 2 1⁄2° over a period of 41,000 years), is the obliquity of the ecliptic. It accounts for the seasons. If the Earth's poles were perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, there would be only one invariable season on the Earth. The right ascension and declination system is the same kind of grid system as terrestrial longitude and latitude and celestial longitude and latitude, but the obliquity of the ecliptic makes the orientation of right ascension and declination different than the ecliptic grid by the value of the obliquity.

www.westernsiderealastrology.com/aspects-in-mundo

[glaucus]

In his book, Essays on Astrology,
Robert Hand pointed out that declination is the vertical dimension of Right Ascension and not ecliptic longitude even though some astrologers use declination along with ecliptic longitude instead of Right Ascension.
Robert Hand wrote one cannot say that if Saturn rises while Mars culminates, Saturn will necessarily culminate while Mars sets because of geometry planetary transits over angles. He pointed out that a paran on one pair of angles does not mean that there will be parans on other pairs of angles at the same time. He noted that If two bodies are also in parallel of declination when they are in paran, they will always transit the angles in pairs and be in paran on any pair of angles. He also wrote that contraparallels also synchronize the rising, culminating, setting and lower culmination patterns of pairs of planets, but not as perfectly as parallels.
He noted that eclipses of the Sun are also parallels and that the Sun conjunct Moon while parallel Moon will transit all angles simultaneously He also notes that shows that an eclipse is both a zodiacal aspect and a paran aspect. He raises the possibility that is part of the reason that eclipses are so powerful.

In his book, Horoscope Symbols, Robert Hand wrote that parallels,contraparallels might not have much astrological influence unless they are in conjunction,opposition in Declination Longitude Equivalent Chart

Robert Hand pointed out that parans take both latitude and Declination into consideration.
He also noted that the Babylonians used parans long before aspects on the ecliptic. He also pointed that Babylonian Astrology was an observational one, and that the horizon and meridian circles are much more easily seen outdoors than the ecliptic. He also noted that Ptolemy discussed parans in the Almagest. Robert Hand wrote that parans appear to represent a direct and powerful linking of planetary energies although it is not clear what differences there might be among the various type of parans.
Parans depend upon the latitude of location. The important thing is that the two bodies cross the great circle of the horizon or meridian. Paran transits are affected by changing geographic latitude.

Robert Hand used a 4 degree (16 minutes of Sidereal Time) for natal parans, but I prefer using 2 degree orb (8 minutes of Sidereal Time) and 1 1/2 degree orb (6 minutes of Sidereal Time) for dwarf planet/candidates and major asteroids/protoplanets.
He used a 1 degree orb for transiting parans to natal parans. If transiting parans to natal parans can be used, I don't see why parans cannot be used in synastry which is actually the older person's transits at the time that the younger person was born. I always thought that the older person could re-live the psychological influences of the transits that he/she had when the younger person was born through the interaction with the younger person.

Robert Hand originally looked at the Right Ascension, Oblique Ascension, and/or Oblique Descension degrees for the transits to natal, and I was wondering if we could look at those before I even read his book. I was already looking at transits to natal in Right Ascension. Now, I realize that only the Right Ascension conjunction, opposition may be valid in looking at transits to natal for they actual parans. Other Right Ascension aspects are not parans.
Robert Hand referred to the transits as 'Ascensional Transits.'

Robert Hand later changed to looking at Sidereal Times (ST) or RAMC (Right Ascension in the Medium Coeli aka Midheaven) rising,culminating,setting,anti-culminating of the planets.

I really like the way Robert Hand thinks and views things in Astrology. He questions what most astrologers do. He does things that most astrologers don't do.

[glaucus]

This is this what Robert Hand wrote about parans. I copied it from his book, Essays on Astrology.
www.facebook.com/notes/raymond-scott/parans/2522234227805848/

[glaucus]

David Cochrane information about parans


Paran Listings Details:
Parans are another technique that was widely used in much of ancient astrology. A paran occurs when one planet or star is rising or setting and another one is on hate MC-IC line.

A "rotated paran" is a paran that would occur if you rotated the sky to place the planet or fixed star on the horizon or MC-IC line, and then the other star or planet is also on the horizon or MC-IC line. You will find that each planet makes, on average, two or three dozen, rotated parans to fixed stars, using a 1 degree orb and 92 fixed stars. Because of the large number of rotated parans, it is possible that rotated parans add a great deal of information about the astrological influence of planets that has previously been ignored by astrologers.



A paran between a planet and a fixed star occurs when the planet and fixed star are rising, setting, culminating, or anti-culminating. For example, if Mercury is rising (or setting, culminating, or anti-culminating) and the fixed star Regulus is culminating (or rising, setting, or anti-culminating), then a paran occurs. A planet that is rising or setting is on the horizon plane. A planet that is culminating or anti-culminating is on the meridian plane. Therefore, another way to define a paran is that a paran occurs when both the planet and fixed star are on the horizon or meridian planes.

Parans occur periodically throughout the day and in a birth chart, very often no parans occur. However, planets are in paran relationship with many fixed stars. By "paran relationship" is meant that if the sky were rotated so that the planet is on the meridian or horizon plane, the fixed star would also be on the horizon and meridian plane. The planet and fixed star are in paran relationship even though they are not physically on the horizon and meridian planes at the given time. When two celestial objects are in paran relationship but not actually on the horizon and meridian planes, they can be called "rotated parans".

One must decide how to measure the orb of the rotated paran. Because parans do not occur in relationship to the zodiac and the ecliptic plane, the usual way of measuring astrological orbs as a difference in zodiacal degrees does not work for calculating the orbs of parans and rotated parans.

In the list above, the orbs are calculated as follows:

If both celestial objects are on the meridian plane (both culminating, both anti-culminating, or one culminating and one anti-culminating), then the orb is calculated as the difference in right ascension. This method of calculating orbs makes sense because an orb calculated in this way is the arc which separates the planets from being precisely on the meridian plane with no orb.

Note that if two planet are conjunct in right ascension, then they culminate together and they anti-culminate together. Another term for "culminate" is "conjunct the MC in right ascension". Another term for "anti-culminate" is "opposition the MC in right ascension". In the listing above, two celestial objects that are conjunct in right ascension will culminate and anti-culminate together. If the two celestial objects are listed as opposition in right ascension, then as one celestial object culminates, the other anti-culminates and vice versa.

If one celestial object is on the meridian plane and the other is on the horizon plane, then the sky is rotated to place one celestial object precisely on the meridian plane, and the angle of the other object from the horizon plane is given. This angle is the direct angle of the celestial object perpendicularly measured to the horizon plane. This angle is known as the altitude of the planet, which is either north (above the horizon) or south (below the horizon).

Similarly, if both celestial objects are rising or setting together, then the sky is rotated so that one planet is precisely on the horizon and the altitude of the other planet serves as the orb.

An alternative way to measure orbs of parans and rotated parans is to measure the amount of time taken for one celestial object to reach the meridian or horizon plane after the other celestial object has reached the meridian or horizon plane, but this form of measurement can produce odd results, such as a birth chart in northern Sweden, Finland, or Canada, with a planet almost precisely on the horizon, but not regarded as being on the horizon because at these high geographic latitudes it can take hours for this planet to reach the horizon. For this reason, the measurement of orbs as described above is used, although there is not universal agreement by astrologers on how orbs of parans and rotated parans should be measured.

In the list given above "IC" refers to a celestial object that is anti-culminating, "MC" to a celestial object that is culminating, "rises" to a celestial object on the eastern horizon and "sets" to a celestial object on the western horizon.

Two lists are given. The first list provides the rotated parans to the Sun from strongest (smallest orb) to weakest, followed by the Moon and so on up to Pluto. The second list is also sorted by planets from Sun to Pluto, but for each planet the fixed stars are sorted alphabetically rather than by orb. The first list is useful for seeing the strongest rotated parans to each planet, and the second list is useful for seeing if a particular rotated paran occurs in the chart.


www.patterns.com/RotatedParans.htm


Hellenistic Parans and Rotated Parans

[Ava]

Thank you for the information glaucus.

This is all over my head still.

Just found this list in my notes and wanted to make a record of it outside of my notes.

Times for when planets were on MC, on the day I was born...in order (parans in bold):

1:11:52 Saturn conjunct MC (ASC 26 Libra, moon @ 9°)
5:42:38 Pluto conjunct MC (quincunx moon 11°, few minutes orb)
7:16:20 Uranus conjunct MC (12.32 Cap ASC conjunct sun, sextile 12°32 moon)
8:09:40 NN conjunct MC (27 Cancer DSC conjunct Saturn)
9:16:00 Venus conjunct MC (18.39 Aqua ASC, squaring nodes)
9:44:05 Neptune conjunct MC (29 Aqua ASC)
12:05:55 sun conjunct MC (ASC 27 Aries conjunct 12H Chiron)
13:26:55 Mercury conjunct MC (26 Taurus ASC)
16:10:05 moon conjunct MC (8 Cancer ASC) 
17:56:40 Jupiter conjunct MC - ASC 0 Leo conjunct Saturn
21:56:05 Mars conjunct MC - ASC 17 Virgo

I live close to where I was born so it's still the same...

I'm enough of a novice that I'm not sure if the phase angle between MC and ASC remains constant through the year. (lumina....thoughts?)

I was born in winter as noted above (Cap sun), but just checked and this morning when the MC was conjunct my Jupiter, the ASC was conjunct my Saturn.