The Trutine of Hermes [antikvár]

Acknowledgementsii It' i ;This manual has been written at the request of Helene Koppejan to accompany The Zodiac Image Handbook,^ and she also supplied the basic data I needed to calculate the natal charts and the conception corrections exemplified. She also kindly allowed me to quote her descriptions of the relevant degree images.The calculations in this book, have been carried out with the use of the Planetentafeln für Jedermann (Astronomical Tables) of Karl Schoch^s for 4000 bc to ad 2000, the White ephemeris for 1801-50, Otto Barth's ephemerides for 1850-1970, and the Concise Planetary Ephemeris for ad 1950-2000. In about May 1988 the PCA (Personal Computer Astrology) computer program Electric Ephemeris (ver 2.3.3.) for 4000 bc to ad 2000, devised by Laurids Pedersen and Ananda Bagley, became available, enabling me to check and correct all the calculations. The format of the charts in this book is adapted with permission, from the PCA print-out.I have to say, however, that I don't know how reliable the computerised planetary positions are, because there are some noticeable differences when compared with the results obtained from Schoch or Tuckermann. In the case of Schoch's tables the accepted margin of six minutes is appreciably more when using the PCA, although when using Neugebauer's tables'*" it is possible to calculate almost exact positions, which include a margin of only 0.01 degree. However, it is not easy to use or even to obtain these tables. Tuckermann's computerised ephemeris gives the positions with intervals of five and ten days, which is, particularly with regards to the positions of the Moon, insufficient for the calculation of a conception correction.For the positions of Pluto before 1850, I used Kuno Foelsch's Pluto tables for 1 bc to ad 2500, as well as those of Heinz Noesselt, which are to be used in relationship with those of Schoch. The positions of Pluto before 1600, calculated with the PCA program, often show a difference of more than one degree and so we have to be careful about this. I was told that nobody really knows exactly where Pluto was, in, for instance ad 1200 or 400 bc. For the positions of Persephone, Hermes and Demeter, I used the ephemeris published in Astrology, by Ir C. J. Snijders.^^'^z