Contra-antiscion

Meaning

A point's contra-antiscion is its reflection in the axis from 0° Aries to 0° Libra, the equinox axis. For a longitude λ:

contra-antiscion = 360° − λ

It is also the degree exactly opposite the point's antiscion, since (180° − λ) + 180° = 360° − λ. That is how Lilly finds it: take the antiscion and go to the same degree of the opposite sign. His Saturn at 20°35′ Leo has its antiscion at 9°25′ Taurus, so its contra-antiscion is at 9°25′ Scorpio [1].

The sign pairs are Aries–Pisces, Taurus–Aquarius, Gemini–Capricorn, Cancer–Sagittarius, Leo–Scorpio and Virgo–Libra, with the degrees running in reverse so that they add up to 30° (10° Taurus mirrors 20° Aquarius).

Two degrees mirrored across the equinox axis are the same distance from an equinox but on opposite sides of the celestial equator. For points on the ecliptic their declinations are equal and opposite, so the day the Sun gives at one equals the night it gives at the other, and the stretches of zodiac on either side of an equinox take equal times to rise. Al-Bīrūnī states both facts: the day hours of one sign equal the night hours of the other, and their ascensions are equal "in all places" [2]. Ptolemy says his commanding and obeying signs rise in equal times, though he counts them in whole signs [3] (see commanding and obeying signs).

Origin and history

Lilly's reading. Lilly writes that just as antiscia of the good planets are equal to a sextile or trine, contra-antiscia are "of the nature of a Square or Opposition" [1]. Anthony Louis notes that this view appears in most modern texts on the subject [4]; it treats the contra-antiscion as a hard, troublesome contact.

The earlier reading. Louis has argued that this reverses the older view [4]. He points to Abu Ma'shar's Great Introduction, in Benjamin Dykes's translation (2020), where signs agreeing in their times of rising are said to be in harmony and affection, even when they are square; and to Rhetorius in James Holden's translation (2009, pp. 16–17), where equal-rising signs are listed among signs that are disjunct but in sympathy with each other [4]. (These two translations are cited here as Louis reports them; they were not checked directly for this article.)

Al-Bīrūnī's report of Abu Ma'shar, which can be checked in Wright's translation, supports this [2]. He calls signs equidistant from an equinox "equipollent" (agreeing in power). Abu Ma'shar, he says, named some of these pairs by their distance apart, not their quality: Aries and Pisces, and Virgo and Libra, he called "natural sextiles", although neighbouring signs do not see each other, and Gemini with Capricorn and Cancer with Sagittarius "natural opposites", although signs five apart have no aspect. The agreement between the signs, al-Bīrūnī adds, removes the unconnectedness and harm from these pairs, and it softens the enmity of a square such as Taurus to Aquarius or Leo to Scorpio [2]. On this evidence "opposite" in the Arabic tradition described the spacing of the signs. Louis suggests that later European translators may not have understood what Abu Ma'shar meant by "natural opposition" [4].

Firmicus does not name the contra-antiscion, but his rule that planets may be joined by opposition through an antiscion covers the same contacts, since the point opposite a planet's antiscion is its contra-antiscion [5]. He treats any aspect made through the mirror as if it were the plain aspect, so for him such a contact counts simply as an opposition; he gives it no separate meaning.

How it is used

Two readings. Followers of Lilly read a contra-antiscion like a square or opposition. Those who follow the older sources read it as a hidden bond or sympathy. It is worth knowing which tradition an author follows before comparing judgments.

Contra-parallels. Because mirrored points on the ecliptic have equal and opposite declination, a contra-antiscion is closely related to a contra-parallel. The two agree exactly only when both points lie on the ecliptic; a planet with latitude, such as the Moon, can be on a contra-antiscion without being contra-parallel, or the reverse.

Orb. As with antiscia, the old authors give no orb. Modern orbs vary and are usually small; this site uses 1° by default.

On this site. The Antiscia panel computes contra-antiscia as 360° − longitude when the equinox axis is switched on, for the same points as antiscia (planets, the Moon's Node, the angles, optional house cusps, lots and Behenian stars), with an orb from 0.25° to 2°, 1° by default. Each contact is listed once per pair, and the last column says whether it is also a declination contra-parallel. When the equinox axis is switched off and Firmicus's aspects are on, the same contacts appear as oppositions to the antiscion. On the wheel, with 0° Cancer at the top, every contra-antiscion contact is an upright line.

Examples

• Einstein's Sun at 353.508° (23°30′ Pisces) has its contra-antiscion at 360° − 353.508° = 6.492°, 6°30′ Aries, directly opposite its antiscion at 6°30′ Libra.
• Venus and the Midheaven. In Einstein's chart (14 March 1879, Ulm, 11:30 local mean time), Venus at 16°59′ Aries has its contra-antiscion at 13°01′ Pisces; the Midheaven is at about 12°50′ Pisces, some 11′ away. The declinations are about +6.0° (Venus, which lies a little south of the ecliptic) and −6.7°, so the pair is also contra-parallel within about 0.7°. Lilly would read this as a hard link; the older authors as a sympathetic one.

See also

The antiscion is the reflection across the other axis; the equinox axis explains the astronomy.