DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15#0045
HISTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS. 35
ruling the planets most potent in their influence
upon the royal career.
Remembering the mysterious influence which
astrologers ascribed to special numbers, figures,
positions, and so forth, the care with which the
Great Pyramid was so proportioned as to indicate
particular astronomical and mathematical relations
is at once explained. The four sides of the square
base were carefully placed with reference to the
cardinal points, precisely like the four sides of the
ordinary square scheme of nativity.1 The eastern
1 The language of the modern Zadkiels and Raphaels, though
meaningless-and absurd in itself, yet, as assuredly derived from the
astrology of the oldest times, may here be quoted. (It certainly was
not invented to give support to the theory I am at present advocat-
ing.) Thus runs the jargon of the tribe : ' In order to illustrate
plainly to the reader what astrologers mean by the "houses of
heaven," it is proper for him to bear in mind the four cardinal
points. The eastern, facing the rising sun, has at its centre the
first grand angle or first house, termed the Horoscope or ascendant.
The northern, opposite the region where the sun is at midnight, or the
cusp of the lower heaven or nadir, is the Imum Cceli, and has at its
centre the fourth house. The western, facing the setting sun, has at
its centre the third grand angle or seventh house or descendant. And
lastly, the southern, facing the noonday sun, has at its centre the
astrologer's tenth house, or Mid-heaven, the most powerful angle, or
house of honour.' 'And although,' proceeds the modern astrologer,
'we cannot in the ethereal blue discern these lines or terminating
divisions, both reason and experience assure us that they certainly
exist ; therefore the astrologer has certain grounds for the choice of
his four angular houses ' (out of twelve in all), ' which, resembling
the palpable demonstration they afford, are in the astral science
esteemed the most powerful of the whole.'—Raphael's Manual of
Astrology.
ruling the planets most potent in their influence
upon the royal career.
Remembering the mysterious influence which
astrologers ascribed to special numbers, figures,
positions, and so forth, the care with which the
Great Pyramid was so proportioned as to indicate
particular astronomical and mathematical relations
is at once explained. The four sides of the square
base were carefully placed with reference to the
cardinal points, precisely like the four sides of the
ordinary square scheme of nativity.1 The eastern
1 The language of the modern Zadkiels and Raphaels, though
meaningless-and absurd in itself, yet, as assuredly derived from the
astrology of the oldest times, may here be quoted. (It certainly was
not invented to give support to the theory I am at present advocat-
ing.) Thus runs the jargon of the tribe : ' In order to illustrate
plainly to the reader what astrologers mean by the "houses of
heaven," it is proper for him to bear in mind the four cardinal
points. The eastern, facing the rising sun, has at its centre the
first grand angle or first house, termed the Horoscope or ascendant.
The northern, opposite the region where the sun is at midnight, or the
cusp of the lower heaven or nadir, is the Imum Cceli, and has at its
centre the fourth house. The western, facing the setting sun, has at
its centre the third grand angle or seventh house or descendant. And
lastly, the southern, facing the noonday sun, has at its centre the
astrologer's tenth house, or Mid-heaven, the most powerful angle, or
house of honour.' 'And although,' proceeds the modern astrologer,
'we cannot in the ethereal blue discern these lines or terminating
divisions, both reason and experience assure us that they certainly
exist ; therefore the astrologer has certain grounds for the choice of
his four angular houses ' (out of twelve in all), ' which, resembling
the palpable demonstration they afford, are in the astral science
esteemed the most powerful of the whole.'—Raphael's Manual of
Astrology.