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Conception. According to Ptolemy the sex as well as the incidents relating to a child, prior to its birth, may be deduced

from the positions of the planets at the time of conception. The entire subject of prenatal cosmic stimulation is a welter of

confused theorizing, which as yet lacks confirmation in practice sufficient to bring about any unanimity of opinion.

 

Conceptive Signs. v. Signs.

 

Configuration. (a) Three or more planets in a birth map, that are joined together by aspects, whereby. any stimulation will

result in the combined action of all the planets which enter into the configuration. (b) A similar combination of mutual

aspects between transitory planets.

 

Conjunction: Conjoined to. Phraseology to indicate the mutual relation of two planets occupying longitudinal positions

separated by less than 7°. The exact limits, and the relative strength at different degrees of separation, constitutes a

controversial point. Strictly speaking, the conjunction takes place when both occupy exactly the same degree position;

although it begins to be operative when they arrive within orbs. v. Aspect.

Conjunction, Superior  and  Inferior . The conjunction of an inferior planet, Mercury or Venus, with the Sun is an inferior

conjunction when the planet is between the Earth and the Sun; a Superior Conjunction, when the Sun is between the Earth

and the planet. 

Constellations. Some 90 subdivisions of the heavens, mostly named according to some outline traced among the

 principal stars within the area. There is no sharp line of demarcation between the various contiguous constellations.

Twelve of these groups lie along the ecliptic, and are thus known as the Zodiac of Constellations. At about the

commencement of the Christian era, these constellations coincided with the divisions of the ecliptic based on the point

of the Vernal Equinox, where the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator. Since at no time did astrologers attribute the

influences which repose in the twelve 30-degree arcs of the Earth's annual revolution around the Sun, to the background

of stars against which celestial positions are measured, the name of the constellations were appropriated and attached to

the zodiac of signs based upon the points of the Equinoxes and the Solstices.

 

The symbology of the constellations along the ecliptic is of interest in that it is probable the astrological significances

 preceded the naming of the constellations, which were named to symbolize the influences ascribed to the different arcs.

The constellations of the Zodiac are:

 

 Aries. The ram. It is mentioned by Aratus, in the third century B.C. According to Grecian mythology Nephele, mother

of Phrixus and Helle, gave her son a ram with a golden fleece. To escape the evil designs of their stepmother, Hera,

Phrixus and Helle mounted the ram and fled. As they reached the sea and attempted to cross, Helle fell into the water

and perished - hence, the Hellespont. Arriving in Colchis, Phrixus was received by the King, Aeetes, who sacrificed the

ram to Zeus, to whom he dedicated the fleece - later carried away by Jason. Zeus translated the ram into the heavens as a

constellation.

 

Taurus. The Bull. A constellation of great antiquity containing two star-clusters: the Pleiades and the Hyades, which are

referred to in the Old Testament. The principal star of the Hyades, Aldebaran, is mentioned by Hesiod and Homer.

According to the Greeks it was the bull which carried Europa across the seas to Crete, and which Jupiter raised to the

heavens. The Hyades, named Ambrosia, Coronis, Eudora, Pasithoë, Plexaris, Pytho and Tycho - after the seven

daughters of Atlas - and Aethra, were also transformed into stars by Jupiter, for bewailing the death of their brother

Hyas. The central star of the Pleiades, Alcyone, also Ple‹one and Atlas - are stars of the 3rd magnitude. They were the

seven daughters of Atlas and Ple‹one, hence half-sisters of the Hyades. They too were said to have been turned into stars

for grieving over the loss of their sisters, and the suffering of their father: but another account tells how the sisters met

the great hunter Orion in Boeotia, whose passions were so inflamed at the sight of them that he pursued them through