On 5/16/2012 @ 10:53 PM, Morgan Leigh doth schreibble :
>
> Indeed, but if we were to follow the Stocis we should have to move
> clockwise always and label the movement as being from Fire to Air to
> Water to Earth, which does not fit with the astrological model we have.

This does not follow, Morgan - it is all about what
practitioners observe with regard to their /local
horizon/ - one's local horizon is the "privileged
frame".

Stoics were cognizant of the fact that /appearances/
made for diversity of observation - in the case of the
observer on the ground, it is simply /pragmatic/ to
proceed from personal experience. Even contemporary
astronomers still speak of 'sunrise' and 'sunset',
despite the fact that they 'know' that the Earth
rotates.

(The Stoics also broke with Aristotle in making no
distinction between sublunar and celestial physics/
processes, by-the-way.)

As I stated previously, it is primarily the Four Seasons
and *not* the Signs of the Zodiac that determine the
Assignments of the Four Elements to the Four Directions
of the Compass.

The Spring of the Year is attributed to Air in both
Hemispheres, even though the Spring of the Southern
Hemisphere occurs during the Autumn of the Northern
Hemisphere.

Likewise, the Autumn of the Year is attributed to
Earth in both Hemispheres, although the Autumn of
the Southern Hemisphere occurs during the Spring of
the North.

A practitioner facing North in the Southern Hemisphere
throughout the Course of a Day will witness the Sun
rising in the East at their right hand, and moving in
a /counter-clockwise/ direction as it sweeps up to Noon
in the North and then down to the West at their left
hand.

This gives the Cycle Air - Fire - Earth - Water, and
not (as you state above) "Fire to Air to Water to Earth".

Take another look at the Astral Rebis (which is drawn
from the perspective of a practitioner in the Northern
Hemisphere):

*Astral Rebis*
http://tinyurl.com/yjrkbgb

Beginning in the upper right hand corner, and proceeding
clockwise, we have the sequence Air(Sanguine) - Fire(Choleric)
- Earth(Melancholic) - Water(Phlegmatic).

Which is exactly what we find in the Southern Hemisphere.

The zero point for the Vernal Equinox in the Southern
Hemisphere is in the Sign of Libra, not Aries.

Coincidentally, Kabbalists associate the Autumnal Equinox
in the Sign of Libra with the creation of Adam, and
Tishrei is the first month of the Jewish year ( "This
month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall
be the first month of the year to you." ~ Exodus 12:2 ).

And I think it is well-known that the ancient Celts
associated the festival of Samhain with the New Year.

Twilight times (dawn and dusk) often mirror syzygynous
events and situations.

Many of the Stoics were adept astronomers / astrologers:
Manilius and Aratus immediately come to mind. And they
were quite familiar with all of the asterisms of the
Southern Hemisphere, I might add - see:

*Manilius and Aratus: Two Stoic Poets on Stars*
by Josephe-Henriette Abry (.PDF)
@Leeds.ac.uk
http://tinyurl.com/7gvowqe

See also:

*Julius Firmicus Maternus: Profile of a Roman (Stoic) Astrologer*
by David McCann
@SkyScript.co.uk
http://tinyurl.com/8ye7xow

*Ancient Astrology Theory and Practice*
by Firmicus Maternus (.PDF)
<transl. by Jean Rhys Bram>
@Scribd.com
http://tinyurl.com/cunmmgp

*Touches of Sweet Harmony: Pythagorean Cosmology
and Renaissance Poetics*
by Simeon Kahn Heninger, 1974.

*Divina Quaternitas: A Preliminary Study in the Method
and Application of Visual Exegesis*
by Anna C. Esmeijer, 1978, ISBN9023215672.

*Hot Dry Men, Cold Wet Women: The Theory of Humors
in Western European Art, 1575-1700*
by Zirka Zaremba Filipczak, 1997.

Cors in Manu Domine,


~ Khem Caigan
<[log in to unmask]>

"Heat and Moisture are Active to Generation;
Cold and Dryness are Passive, in and to each thing;
Fire and Air, Active by Elementation;
Water and Earth, Passive to Generation."

'Of the Division of Chaos'
-Dr. Simon Forman