Archaic Astrology ~ Firdar & Cardan's Aphorisms

Ancient astrology, in common with most ancient ideas, retains a certain curious appeal, but the parts of it I've come across accidentally have been pretty hard to take seriously. For instance, I read about Firdar years ago and promptly set it aside as seeming like just another ancient "astrological board game":
Firdar or Alfridaria from glossary here:

Derived from the mixed Arabic and Persian "al firdar", the alfridaria, or alfridaries, are a system of planetary periods of Persian origin first described as far as we know by Abu Mashar. Originally intended for the long term forecasting of historical events, they can also be used in predicting for individual charts.

Nutshell: Different periods of life are associated with different planets which will define the theme prevailing during each of the periods.

From a full explanation by Stephen Birchfield A.M.A. HERE

It will be useful for us to examine this teaching at the source, Abu Ma’shar -
“Each of the seven stars, and the Ascending and Descending Nodes, has certain determinate times, and each star administers to the native in accordance with its proper firdar. The firdar of the Sun, then, is 10 years; of Aphrodite, 8; of Hermes, 13; of the Moon, 9; of Kronos, 11; of Zeus, 12; of Ares, 7; of the Ascending Node, 3; of the Descending Node, 2 – altogether, they are 75.

Another full explanation of Firdar by one of today's well-respected astrologers, Robert Hand, is HERE. Firdar did come up in a 2012 post of my own about 75 year cycles.

Perhaps I should not be so hasty as to cast aside Firdar - it might have some bearing on my pet theory about astrology: that the planets, in their cycles, are simply markers on waves of time, each wave bringing in different cosmic "atmospheres", which can be felt here on Earth, the waves roll on, sometimes criss-crossing, sometimes blending. Best leave Firdar in the "pending" tray!

I found another tid-bit of ancient astrological thought in a book sparsely titled Astrology by Irish poet Louis MacNeice:
Aphorisms of Jerome Cardan (1501-1576), Italian physician and astrologer.

Pronouncements by ancient astrologers tend to be on the gloomy side, too much so to take too seriously. It's always "is" or "will be" rather than "could be" or "likely to be". Still, they're fun to read and consider, and there could be a germ of truth included....perhaps.

Astrodatabank's page and natal chart on Cardan

 Jerome Cardan

Wikipedia page on Cardan

Some Aphorisms of Cardan....

When the Moon is in Scorpio in square of Saturn in Leo or in his opposition when he is in Taurus partilely, the Native rarely has either Wife or Children, but if Saturn be in Aquarius, he will be a mere Woman hater.

Mercury mixing his Beams with Mars, is a great argument of a violent death.

When Venus is with Saturn, and beholds the Lord of the ascendant, the Native is inclinable to Sodomy, or at least shall love old hard-favoured Women, or poor dirty Wenches.

The Moon, full of Light in conjunction with Mars, makes the Native be counted a Fool, but if she be void of light and with Saturn, he is so indeed.

A Woman that has Mars with the Moon is Right, I'll warrant her.

The Moon in Aquarius or Pisces makes the Native not at all acceptable amongst Princes or Grandees.

In Purging, 'tis best that the Moon and Lord of the Ascendant descend and be under the Earth, in vomiting that they Ascend.

Make no new Clothes, nor first put them on when the Moon is in Scorpio, especially if she be full of light and beheld of Mars, for they will be apt to be torn and quickly worn out.

If a Comet appear while a Woman goes with Child, if it be either in the fourth, fifth or eightth month, such Child will prove very prone to anger and quarrels, and if he be of quality, to sedition.

Saturn in fixed signs causes scarcity of Corn, dear years, and the Death of many Men.

When Saturn is in Libra and Jupiter in Cancer, great Changes and Alterations shall happen in the world.

- Jerome Cardan, Seven Segments, 1547, translated by William Lilly, 1676.

I've mentioned MacNeice and his book in a past post....here. There are other snips from the book among the archives, accessible by clicking on "Louis MacNeice" in the label cloud in the sidebar.

75-year cycles ~ Firdar ~ Is it Time Again?

A piece at Common Dreams yesterday morning caught my attention. I felt fairly sure it would be possible to relate its content to some astrological cycle:

Said piece is by Paul Buchheit, War or Revolution Every 75 Years. It's Time Again.
He begins:

When Charles Dickens wrote "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" to begin "A Tale of Two Cities," he compared the years of the French Revolution to his own "present period." Both were wracked with inequality. But he couldn't have known that 75 years later inequality would cause the Great Depression. Or that 75 years after that, in our own present period, extreme inequality would return for a fourth time, to impact a much greater number of people. He probably didn't know that the cycles of history seem to drag the developed world into desperate times about every 75 years, and then seek relief through war or revolution.
It's that time again.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness;it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way. -- CHARLES DICKENS

Three cycles (225 years) ago, in the years before the French Revolution, inequality was at one of its highest points ever. While it's estimated that the top 10% of the population took almost half the income, as they do today, the Gini Coefficient was between .52 and .59, higher than the current U.S. figure of .47. The French Revolution began a surge toward equality that lasted well into the 19th century.

Two cycles ago, in Dickens' day of the 1860s, European inequality was again at a nearly intolerable level. It took the second industrial revolution and the U.S. Civil War to start correcting the economic injustices.

One cycle ago was the Great Depression. The New Deal, World War 2, and the laborious process of war recovery put an end to this third period of extreme inequality.
Now, nearly 75 years after we started World War 2 production, we again feel the agony of a wealth gap expanding, like grotesquely stretched muscle, to intolerable limits...................

Mr Buchheit ends his piece like this:

In our 'civilized' times people aren't being run down by noblemen or forced to eat grass. The aristocracy has learned a lot about suppressing crowds in 225 years. But they need to fear the growing revolution. They need to fear, as Dickens put it, "the remorseless sea of turbulently swaying shapes, voices of vengeance, and faces hardened in the furnaces of suffering until the touch of pity could make no mark on them."

Although I could sniff astrology here, 75-year cycles didn't immediately ring an astrological bell for me. Uranus' cycle is nearest, but almost 10 years adrift (84years).

Research brought to light something I'd studied years ago and forgotten: Firdar. From HERE

Derived from the mixed Arabic and Persian "al firdar", the alfridaria, or alfridaries, are a system of planetary periods of Persian origin first described as far as we know by Abu Mashar. Originally intended for the long term forecasting of historical events, they can also be used in predicting for individual charts.

If I were to attempt to explain the method of calculation things (and I) would be likely to rapidly fall into disarray! Enough to say, and passing readers will have to trust me on this, the full cycle is of 75 years!

From an explanation by Stephen Birchfield A.M.A. HERE

It will be useful for us to examine this teaching at the source, Abu Ma’shar -
“Each of the seven stars, and the Ascending and Descending Nodes, has certain determinate times, and each star administers to the native in accordance with its proper firdar. The firdar of the Sun, then, is 10 years; of Aphrodite, 8; of Hermes, 13; of the Moon, 9; of Kronos, 11; of Zeus, 12; of Ares, 7; of the Ascending Node, 3; of the Descending Node, 2 – altogether, they are 75.

Another full explanation of Firdar by one of today's best (in my opinion) astrologers, Robert Hand is HERE

Firdar establishes that a 75-year cycle does exist in astrology - ancient astrology. Whether this relates to the 75-year cycle seen by the author of the article first quoted is a matter worth pondering. My vote would be a "Yay". Astrology is all about time waves, and the cycle indicated by Firdar seems, to me, to represent something of a tide-turning, time-turning wave.