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Book 19 is one of the shortest books
of the Astrologia Gallica, but it is an important book because it
gives explicit definitions of astrological terms and many valuable rules
for interpreting charts. It begins with the Definitions, then passes to
Axioms and a Caution, and finally to 28 Theorems. Their main purpose seems
to be to provide logical explanations of terms and their use in various
configurations. Morin emphasizes that in interpreting a particular position
or configuration in a chart both the characteristics of the influence and
the characteristics of the native or the subject acted upon must be
carefully considered in order to understand the action in a particular
case. And he illustrates this by one of his favorite sayings, “The Sun
hardens clay and melts wax” thus showing that the same celestial influence
may have quite a different effect upon different subjects.
In discussing the Theorems, he
sometimes states something that is a fallacy and then points out that it is
contrary to an Axiom or Theorem previously stated, thus providing the proof
of a Theorem by denying its opposite. After which he says,
”Therefore,” and cites the first word or words of the theorem.
Morin uses a number of words in a
technical sense. I have rendered them by their most common English
equivalent, even when their most common present-day meaning is not what he
had in mind. An example is the Latin word virtus, which l have
translated as ‘virtue’. The Latin word's root meaning is ‘strength’, but it
carries the implication of a particular kind of strength arising from the
condition of its possessor. The English word ‘virtue’ now means mainly
‘moral uprightness’. But to translate virtus as ‘strength’ is not adequate, for to Morin it
referred to the characteristics of a planet as well as to its active force
- ‘strength’ does not carry that implication. So I have rendered it simply
as ‘virtue’, but I have added a footnote to explain the term at its first
occurrence.
The word determinatio
‘determination’ is another similar case; it is a very important technical
term in Morin's astrology. In classical Latin the word means ‘boundary’,
‘conclusion’, or ‘end’. But Morin used it as a noun derived from the verb determino,
whose secondary meaning was ‘to fix or settle something’. Consequently, for
him a ‘determination’ was the making of a particular signification,
especially by the action of a celestial house on a planet that was in it or
was its ruler. The usual sense of the word in English is ‘maintenance of a
fixed purpose to do something’, although in legal circles it means ‘a
judicial decision’ or ‘the logical resolution of a question’, which is
somewhat like Morin's meaning.
Morin, like the older astrologers,
also uses the Latin word domus ‘house’ to refer to a sign
ruled by a particular Planet. So, like his younger English contemporary
William Lilly, he speaks of Aries as being a ‘house of Mars’. However, this
usage is now obsolete. Modern astrologers only use the word ‘house’ to
refer to a ‘celestial house’. I have therefore translated domus
as ‘domicile’ when it is used to refer to a sign rulership.
In the case of the Latin word Caelum,
which means ‘sky’ or ‘heavens’, I have chosen to retain the Latin word in
italics. Morin sometimes uses it to refer to the ‘sky’ in general, but more
often he has in mind the orientation of the zodiac and the placement in it
of the planets at a particular time, when it could be translated as
‘celestial configuration’, but Caelum is simpler.
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