Ben Dykes’s Astrology of the World II was open on my lap yesterday, as I read an excerpt of Al-Qabīsī on the Mundane Lots in Chapter 5.17 in his Book of Religions and Dynasties (BRD). The BRD is a book primarily about the Great Conjunction cycle of Jupiter and Saturn: that approximately every twenty years, the planets conjunct, and their meeting-point sets up some broad themes for the next twenty years. Roughly every 13 such conjunctions, they shift to a new Triplicity or elemental force: earth, air, fire or water. And roughly every 52 conjunctions or 960 years they complete the cycle of all four elements and begin in the fires of Aries again. That’s the basis of the astrological theory of history, if you will: that broad periods of 180 to 240 years will be thematically the same, broken into ‘chapters’ of about two decades; and that every 900-1000 years will be create radical shifts in how things happen.

This is curious because we’re having one of these Triplicity shifts this December, when Jupiter and Saturn will conjunct at 0° Aquarius at the start of an Age of Air. We’ve been in an Age of Earth for most of the last 220 years, since the last time the Great Conjunction cycle shifted elements was in 1803. The last two hundred years have brought about numerous changes in how we approach, understand, study and exploit the material world (everything from steam power to cellphones, agriculture to the atom bomb). In theory, the next two hundred years may involve a rethinking of our theories of mind, and the study, use and exploration (and exploitation) of mind in brand-new ways.

One of the key components of the Great Conjunction cycle theory of history is that the start of a new Triplicity is also the start of a major new religious movement, as well as a new political or economic dynasty. The word ‘religion’ itself comes from a Latin word religare, “to re-tie, or re-bind”, as with rules, taboos, and rituals — and historically this is what religions have done, which is tie people in rules of behavior and patterns of both taboo and positive commendable actions, as well as frame their lives with ceremonials for rites of passage. I find such things fascinating, and I am deeply curious about what that would look like.

If only there were a way to understand what the new rules would be, before they appear!

Maybe there is. That’s what Al-Qabīsī implies, anyway. In this excerpt from BRD, he describes the Mundane Lot of Rulership and Authority. The “mundane lots” are used in mundane or judicial astrology to calculate various aspects related to nations, states, and the world. I have not quoted Mr. Dykes’s translation exactly , but I have tried to capture the essence of the remarks between the main text and his footnote:

1. The Lot of Rulership and Authority employed in the revolution of the year of the world, taken from Mars to the Moon and projected from the Ascendant of the conjunction indicating the shift of the religion. [and this describes the values and spiritual focus of the people who define the culture of the new dynasty or religion.]
2. Used in another respect, it is taken from the degree of the Ascendant of the conjunction to the degree of the conjunction, and projected from the degree of the Ascendant of the revolution [and this is used to appraise the character and future of the culture of the new religion].

Let me recap that. We’re supposed to take two measurements. One of them is in the chart of the “Revolution of the year of the world”, and one of them is in the chart of the conjunction itself. The calculation derived from the chart of the “Revolution of the year of the world” comes first. I suppose it matters which capital city one uses, so I’m choosing Washington, DC — the capital of the United States — in order to determine the character of the emerging dominant religion in America for the next two hundred years.

We begin with the Aries Ingress chart, which I’ve written about before, where we find the distance from Mars to the Moon. I wrote about this chart for this year back in March, when Mars was at 22° Capricorn 35′, and the Moon was at 13° Aquarius 33′. That’s a distance of [mumbling math in the background, watching some YouTube math-help videos] ummm … 20° and 58′ .

So then we look at the chart of the Conjunction. Here the Ascendant is at 8° 43 minutes of Pisces. And we’re going to take those 20° and 58′ minutes and project them from the Ascendant. Which puts the Lot of Rulership and Authority at 29° 31′ of Pisces — in the Decan that Austin Coppock called “The Cup of Blood”, ruled by Mars; and in the term of Saturn.

So the values and culture of the new dynasty or religion are watery and emotional, Jovial in their outward nature, but with an underlying current of hot pain and cold but deliberate responsibility. Additionally, because of the presence of the Moon, it’s likely that the new religion will have a lunar rather than a solar calendar. The co-presence of Neptune in Pisces indicates the creation of spiritual experiences through the imbibing of a sacred and possibly hallucinogenic liquid. The square to the Sun reveals an antagonistic relationship with Solar religions and nationalities, while the sextile to the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction itself suggests a kind of ecstasy in responsibility. This religion is likely to have ordeals of some kind among its its of passage, but owing to the aversion of Mars — these ordeals may be mentally harsh or rough but not scarring or burning.

That completes the first measurement. The second measurement is from the Ascendant of the chart of the conjunction, to the conjunction itself, which is 321° 45′. Then, that distance projected from the Ascendant of the chart of the Revolution of the Year… that is, the Solar Ingress.

Which is this chart, at left. The Ascendant is 24° Scorpio 52′, and we have to add 321° 45′ to that. That’s going to bring us forward a full 342° 48′, which is going to be a full eleven signs around the Zodiac (Zodiac signs are 30° each, so 330° is eleven signs), Which puts us in Libra, at 24° Libra 52’… plus another 12° 48′ minutes.

And THAT lands us at 7° Scorpio 40′, in a Mars-ruled sign, a Mars-ruled decan called The Jawbone, in a Mars-ruled term/bound. Mars itself, trine by sign to Scorpio from Capricorn, is locked in a close conjunction with Jupiter, the merciful and generous founding energy of this new religious experience.

And this shows the character of the future of this new religion or dynasty: a religion that begins with sacraments of sacred blood, but will grow in violence over time, and absorb the world around it in cycles of violence and conflagration. Beginning in the deep peace of Pisces, it will nonetheless initially contain within itself the explosive and forceful potential of the intensity of poisonous Scorpio, which here sets itself against the Otherness of the revolutionary Uranus in the house of relationship, and the cohering calmness of Venus in the middle degree of her own sign.

Some rough beast does indeed appear to be slouching toward Bethlehem to be born.