Cuspal Packages: how to handle the cuspal positions effectively

flow:

-          common problem: so which sign or house is it really in?

-          retrogressive: to ask before you predict, is to be retrogressive

-          progressive: to predict before you check, is progressive and daring

-          need to yearn for feedback and develop documentation habits

Most beginning students have problems with cuspal positions. These are positions that border and straddle any two signs or houses. For instance, see illustration 1. The Ascendant is Gemini 12 degrees. Mars is Cancer 11 degrees.

Maharishi Parasara would have regarded Mars as being in the second house because he paid no special focus to the importance of the degree locations. For so long as Mars is in that square after the one that contains the Lagna, Mars is in the 2^nd house; doesn’t matter if Mars is in 4 degrees Cancer, or 28 degrees Cancer.

Today, we’re more particular about the planetary longitudes (and even latitude). Reckoning it by the Equal House school (where every house has a span of 30 degrees), then the first house spans between 12 degrees Gemini and 12 degrees Cancer; and any planet falling in that space is said to be in the first house.

But if Mars was at 14 degrees, then it would not be in the first house anymore, but the second house. Of course, the Parasara school would still consider that as the second house.

Unfortunately, things are not as absolute as how some scholars make it out to be, no matter what tradition has to say. For instance, my own experience tells me to be suspicious of all cuspal or borderline cases. In the above example, I have the following concerns:

Ø   Parasara would say that Mars is in the 2^nd house

Ø   Modern work tells me to treat that as the 1^st house

Ø   But I am also concerned that Mars is very close to the cusp of the 2^nd house

This is what I do, and I have used this successfully in my professional consultations:

Mars is technically in the 1^st house, but I would still explore what Parasara would have said, and even pay higher regard to the fact that it is “stronger with” the 2^nd house by virtue of its proximity with the border of that house. I would consider that for this case, Mars offers a package of 1^st and 2^nd house events together.

These are two basic things I would suspect about the subject: he would be an active person who prefers to be in the action, and he would often have difficulties managing his personal finances. Between the two experiences, his financial challenge is weighed more significantly than his preference for activity. The moment I am able to confirm this, I would know the sway of the borderline planet, and make my refinements from there. So at this point, I would strongly recommend that the beginning student give more weight to the house cusp with which the borderline planet has proximity.

In the above case, if Mars is in Cancer 11 degrees, and the 2^nd house cusp is Cancer 12 degrees, then say: Mars is in the 1^st house, but stronger in the 2^nd house, giving results of both such houses, but especially so the results of the 2^nd house. And if Mars is at Cancer 14 degrees, then say: Mars is in the 2^nd house, and “strongly so”.

As you proceed with your astrological studies, you will see that different planets may behave different in giving their results. For instance, some planets give their results somewhere in the middle of a sign while some others do so when at the beginning or end of the signs. Also, house effects may be experienced less at the beginning, more certainly mid way through, and peak off towards the end, and drop-off at the tip, only to begin feebly again at the start of the next house, and continues that way through the houses. Your awareness of house effects will become sharper as you continue with your observations of random cases.