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ASTROLOGY TOOLS FOR GREATER UNDERSTANDING
Lilly Strengths
Lilly Strengths Graph
[I am retiring this feature]
Lilly Values
The Lilly Values represent a method for ranking the relative strength of the planets that was described by the famous 17th century astrologer William Lilly. In studying an astrological chart, the astrologer is always looking for indicators that emphasize a planet or bring it into the spotlight. These indicators could be a planet’s position in the houses, in the signs, or the aspects and relationships it makes with other planets. The Lilly values blend a number of these considerations into one combined value that can be used to compare the strength of all the planets in a chart. Over the centuries there have been a number of other methods proposed as well, each with their own merits, but the Lilly Values have proved useful to astrologers for over 300 years.
The Lilly Values were designed to weigh a planet’s strength in a chart, usually a horary chart, and not to track the rise and fall of these strengths across a day or other time period. But, with the introduction of computers to astrology, it became possible to calculate a series of charts quickly and here, for the first time, it is possible for an astrologer to watch the rise and fall of these planetary strengths over a period of time.
Lilly Values Monthly: This graph calculates a chart once a day over the period of a month. It lets you distinguish one day from another. The general trend of planet’s strength will not change. When a planet is high on the graph, the interests associated with it are strongest.
This graph combines Essential and Accidental Strengths. Essential Strengths: These represent the strengths a planet gains due to its own motion through the zodiac and through Ptolemy’s table of essential dignities, including rulerships, exaltations, detriments, falls, triplicities, terms, faces, and other considerations. Accidental Strengths: The accidental dignities are derived from the position a planet finds itself in, either in the houses or in relationship to other planets.
Using the Graph: Watch for when a planet or planets reach high and low points. If it is the highest planet on the graph then its interests will dominate during that time. If you’re looking for a good time to do something, choose the appropriate planet and look for the times when it is highest on the graph. Or, conversely, if a planet could represent an obstacle to your goals, look for when it is lowest on the graph.
The following is a table of keywords associated with the planets to be used as a guide in selecting planets associated with activities.
Planet Keywords:
Moon
Emotions, feelings, moods, children, mothers, women, wives, public, nurturing, breasts, domestic affairs, family affairs, fertility, home, responsiveness, subconscious, tides, water, fluids, babies, comfort, emotional security, memories, nostalgia.
Sun
Self, recognition, achievement, administrators, advancement, attainment, athletic sports, CEOs, consciousness, creativity, dignity, executives, drama, fame, government, teachers, fathers, husbands, influential people, jewelry, men, males, managers, people in power, promotions, recreation, public office, publicity, theaters, vacations.
Mercury
Writers, messages, communications, ideas, thoughts, mail, emails, letters, books, authors, agents, advertising, cars, car repairs, commuting, conferences, contracts, conversation, correspondence, dealers, discussions, critics, criticism, editors, files, gossip, information, instructions, journalists, language, library, literature, education, newspapers, papers, documents, phones, telephones, printers, rumors, schools, speakers, teaching, study, talk, the press, thieves, tourists, traffic, data entry, typists, vehicles, wit, words.
Venus
Affections, art, artists, heart, beauty, candy, cash, checking account, comfort, companionship, cosmetics, custom, dancers, decorations, designers, diplomacy, earnings, female, flowers, gifts, girls, good taste, harmony, income, love, marriage, mediation, money, partnerships, sex, savings, royalties, social affairs, singers, style, values.
Mars
Accidents, abrasions, aggression, army, assertiveness, athletic contests, combat, cuts, desire, energy, explosives, firearms, dentists, guns, hate, hunters, injuries, knives, machines, martial arts, mechanics, men, military, muscles, paramedics, passion, police, quarrels, rashness, scars, sexual energy, soldiers, strife, virility, war.
Jupiter
Abundance, affluence, altruism, expansion, ethics, beliefs, blessings, educators, excess, expansion, expansiveness, fairness, foreigners, fortune, gurus, law, lawyers, judges, increase, liberty, opportunity, optimism, philanthropy, philosophy, preachers, priests, professionals, propaganda, prophecy, rewards, riches, salesmanship, universities, wisdom, winnings.
Saturn
Ability, age, ancestors, archeology, bondage, boundaries, builders, caution, foundations, structures, institutions, prisons, corporations, deprivation, discipline, fears, hard work, hardness, landlord, social laws, limitations, limits, obstacles, obstructions, organizations, poverty, pragmatism, prudence, puritans, realtors, responsibilities, restrictions, stability, worries.
Uranus
Agitation, astrologers, electronics, bohemians, hippies, unconventional, computers, computer networks, the internet, disruptions, eccentrics, electricity, independence, innovation, inventions, surprises, sudden changes, non-conformists, nervous tension, originality, radicals, progressive, science, science fiction, shocks, technicians, unique.
Neptune
Spiritual insight, popular culture, myths, selflessness, mysticism, dissolution, dreams, alcoholism, fine arts, poetry, Utopia, confusion, delusions, drugs, addictions, ESP, mystics, oceans, seas, paranoia, psychics, unreality, glamour, escapism, fog, mists, idealism.
Pluto
Rebirth, occultism, purification, transformation, depth psychology, clearing away, extremes, hidden things, renovation, renewal, research, sexual release, healers, suspicion, mortality, recycling, refuse, mass psychology, the masses, rejuvenation, purges, depths, elimination, investigations, compulsions.
Upcoming Months:
From the excellent Day Watch software by Matrix.
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