Monday, September 27th, 1982

WISDOM'S GOLDENROD, ALAN BERKOWITZ CLASS NOTES

(TYPED)

SEPTEMBER 27, 1982-a

ASTROLOGY; HOROSCOPE-EMERSON

TOPIC: Astrology

SUBJECT: Horoscope-Emerson

SUBSUBJECTS: Emerson natal chart (trans-Saturnians), transits

BOOKS READ FROM OR REFERENCED:

• Marc Edmund Jones, The Astrology of Concepts

• Marc Edmund Jones, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology

• Bliss Perry (ed.), Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Heart of Emerson's Journals

CHARTS embedded in and appended to these notes:

• FIGURE 1982 0927a-1-AB. Emerson's Finger of God. (embedded)

• FIGURE 1982 0927a-2. Ralph Waldo Emerson Natal Chart. (appended)

SABIAN SYMBOLS: Pisces 9

TYPED AND REFORMATTED by IT 2026

NOTES:

• RETYPED HANDWRITTEN NOTES (hence V08). From Classnotes AB 1982 0915 to 1982 1030.PDF.

• This is 1982 09/27a, the evening Astrology; Horoscope-Emerson class, and the first of two entries associated with this date. 1982 09/27b is the afternoon Astrology; Horoscope-Emerson seminar, for which no audio survives — only JF notes.

• All spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and other errors corrected, all abbreviations and astrological glyphs spelled out.

1982 09/27a at Wisdom's Goldenrod

Astrology; Horoscope-Emerson

[Classnotes AB 1982 0927 Begin]

9/27/82 Emerson Trans-Saturnians (A. [Anthony Damiani] not here)

[Note: Sabian degrees and interpretations are from Marc Edmund Jones, The Astrology of Concepts and The Sabian Symbols in Astrology.]

[FIGURE 1982 0927a-1. Emerson's Finger of God. Facsimile scan from AB class notes.]

Exact finger of God --

Finger of God planet at opposite end is forced to expand its functioning into a more impersonal awareness -- forces it into a larger realm.

2 opposite in sextile -- particular facility or talent which will be used to fulfill the task of the opposite planet.

Finger of God to a trans-Saturnian forces you to integrate something non-psychical.

Pluto degree [Pisces 9] -- A tiny jockey from his magnificent horse looks about eagerly and as the race starts he becomes a god of speed = an eagerness for life, concerned with struggles of daily existence.

Aspects to natal trans-Saturnians were associated with deaths in his life.

Pluto = to be aware of the purpose of one's incarnation, it rules the sublunar and arranges it to fulfill the purpose of one's incarnation which is from the Nous.

Pluto willed him towards a higher form of virtue or good.

Pluto represents the highest form of willing -- towards the good -- and is actualized through virtue.

Pluto transit shows the discrepancy between where you are and where you should be.

Pluto degree -- he's going to really actualize the virtues in this life -- fifth house -- in terms of self-expression or moral/practical lived philosophy.

Virtue is transformed from a dogmatic Christian one to a free willing of the Good.

Pluto trine Mars -- ordained 1829

Second time -- first marriage

Third time -- first wife died

Met first wife -- Mars square Moon, Pluto trine Moon, Pluto sextile Sun, Uranus trine Jupiter

Son born -- Pluto quincunx Saturn, Sun trine Pluto, Saturn trine Pluto

[Typist's note: The transits listed below are unclear and appear to contain errors. After analysis, the most likely date they refer to is around November 1, 1838 -- approximately three and a half months after the Divinity School Address was delivered, during the height of the controversy it provoked -- based on transiting Mars being at 28 Leo (conjunct Emerson's natal South Node) and transiting Neptune at 8 Aquarius (corrected from the listed sextile to Emerson's Uranus), both of which are consistent with that date. However, several of the other listed transits cannot be reconciled with any single date and appear to reflect errors either in the writing on the board or in the copying down of it, or both. The address itself was delivered on July 15, 1838, at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, MA (Middlesex County), and the actual planetary positions for that date (using an estimated start time of 7:30 PM) were: Sun 23 Cancer, Moon 15 Taurus, Mercury 27 Cancer, Venus 16 Gemini, Mars 21 Gemini, Jupiter 16 Virgo, Saturn 23 Scorpio, Uranus 13 Pisces, Neptune 10 Aquarius, Pluto 18 Aries, North Node 8 Aries, South Node 8 Libra.]

Divinity School Address -- Venus [sic; Uranus] conjunct Pluto, Jupiter square [sic; quincunx] Pluto, Pluto trine Moon, Neptune sextile [sic; trine] Uranus, Mercury quincunx [sic; square] Moon, Jupiter trine [sic; sextile] Mars, Uranus sextile [sic; quincunx] Mars, Mars conjunct Tail

Uranus conjunct Pluto while writing it

1861 1/15 -- Saturn opposite Pluto (blocked him from speaking, p. 286, Journals) [Bliss Perry (ed.), Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Heart of Emerson's Journals], Uranus square Pluto, Pluto sextile Pluto -- during anti-slavery stand

Pluto square Mars prior to and during anti-slavery stand -- brought out his shadow on Webster.

Uranus transits -- the ego let go of that function (Chaldean) and surrendered it.

[Classnotes AB 1982 0927 End]