This short chapter deals with various questions and sidetracks in our exploration of number, most noteworthy is Venus's unique retrograde pattern and the number symbolism hidden in Heart Sutra. Clarification of trapezoids in individual charts and a primer on mapping the psyche to the natal chart.

"Number Symbolism in Astrology Pt. 4" [click image +] · Buy Now!

The quintile's main job is to release the qualities a planet has before it gets embodied, before it becomes part of the elements. The second reason is that the ascendant & descendant, the Midheaven & nadir are absolute pairs -- they never exist on their own. Each pair is created through the intersection of 2 (different) co-ordinate systems. Thus they're points in space, special points that have meaning in two separate planes of existence, but points nonetheless. The planets, on the other hand, have bodies in space -- which occupy considerably more space than a point. We have said elsewhere that the planets are much more than bodies; they are natures, souls, intellects, life-types, beings and unique Gods. What the quintile does is release the nature and soul (and life-type) elements of a planets' identity from their bondage to body. So the main point of this is that the quintile's function is to act on bodies and release the subtler elements that often seem merged in that bodied existence -- making the power of the quintile useless or irrelevant when applied to those elements of the chart that are bodiless to begin with.