| I have liked what _The Astrologer's Companion_ calls the "time-based"
systems. That category of systems includes Alcibitius, Placidus
and Koch, Koch being the house system of my personal preference.
Time-based house systems base the house cusps on the length of time
it takes at a given latitude, longitude and time of year for each
sign to reach the zenith (the perceived "straight overhead" point,
as opposed to the Poles). This can mean that at higher latitudes,
(above 40 degrees) some signs never get to the zenith, especially
at certain times of the year. Those signs will be called
"intercepted" when they appear in a birth chart, meaning that no
house cusp crosses any degree of them.
People who don't like the time-based systems are often those who
don't believe in the concept implied by an intercepted sign pair.
The face-value implication is that the particular energies of the
signs have no "place" in the person's life and are therefore out of
the picture, so to speak. I have also read theories that the
intercepted signs represent energies that were misused/mastered
(take your pick, depending on whether you feel the laws of karma
count up only the bad stuff on you, or also include the good) and
so are "missing" from the lesson plan of this incarnation. (This
one sounds a tad goofy to me, too.)
My own personal experience with intercepted signs is that they:
(1) do indeed represent energies that have no "formal" place for
expression in a person's life, since no house cusp crosses them,
BUT
(2) they seem to assume a greater importance because of this,
particularly if important planets (Sun, Moon, chart ruler, etc.)
are "trapped" in the intercepted signs. In most of the Placidus
and Koch charts I have studied the energy of the sign pair
tended to influence all areas (houses) of the person's life,
precisely because there was no single place the people felt
"natural" expressing it. The other effect I've seen is that
the areas of life where the signs are trapped have two possible
modes of energy expression--a conscious one indicated by the
signs on their cusps, and an unconscious one, indicated by the
signs trapped within.
(3) If there is any "lesson to be learned" in this incarnation that
the intercepted signs have to teach, it has seemed to me that
it involves becoming conscious of the trapped energy and learn-
ing to consciously apply it to all areas of the life. This
is made easier by not having any single area of life that the
energy can be applied to.
So, because I think intercepted signs are a valid concept, I feel
the time-based house systems have validity. I had my first charts
read by astrologers using the Placidus system; I began using Koch
after reading Robert Hand's _Planets In Transit_. He felt that
the Koch system was superior for timing of transits, especially
gauging when an important planet was going to enter a certain house.
Working with my own chart (and increasingly with the charts of others)
has borne this out.
I, too, would be fascinated to hear the experiences of any others
who use other house systems than the time-based ones. The two other
kinds are the quadrant-based house systems (Equal House, Porphyry)
and the space-based systems (Campanus, Morinus). I plan this year
to try visiting a few astrologers who use systems other than the
time-based ones for a reading. I am not a mathematical genius,
and tend to weigh a system based on whether practical application
seems to show it to be "true" in the greater percentage of situations.
It may be that for my own work, I will eventually adopt a "3-way"
system, computing a person's chart from one of the 3 types of systems.
Thus, each chart would have a set of quadrant-based cusps, time-based
cusps, and space-based cusps that I would study and blend for an
interpretation. It may also be that (yaaah) the correct house system
to be used for an individual depends on that individual, just as
which therapeutic system/theory/methodology works best seems to
depend on the individual. It's an interesting problem to consider
how to figure out which house system to use for a person!
Marcia
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