Do not trust Llewellyn!

[magickman12]

:rant:
I was looking through the 2005 Llewellyn astrological calendar the other day and noticed that they had the Spring Equinox on the wrong date. They had it listed as the day when the Sun moves into Aries, but that is NOT the Equinox. The true Equinox is when the daytime and the nighttime are of equal length. That happened days before the Equinox that they listed. I found this problem in several other places as well.

Why is this listed in the Magick and Rituals section? Because the Equinox is a very powerful day to perform magick. I have had spectacular results with it. But publishers like Llewellyn are misguiding their customers with their errant information. I don't know if they do it purposely or not, but I have another complaint about them as well.

They are often wrong about void-of-course Moons. If you do magick on a VOC Moon, then you will be sorry, for Her energy is nonexistent at those times. I have spotted several mistakes concerning these VOC Moons in Llewellyn's material. That means someone could be doing a ritual on a VOC Moon and not even know it. Thus, all of their preparation, all of their hopes and all of their power is for naught. I don't think that is right.

I myself rely on the old fashioned farmers almanacs. There are two or three different ones that you can buy and crosscheck with each other. Do not take one publisher's word for anything when it comes to magickal timing. In order for your ritual/spell/magick to work, the timing MUST be carefully considered. And remember, Equinoxes and Solstices have nothing to do with astrological signs, but the length of the days.

MM12

[RedRaven]

And remember, Equinoxes and Solstices have nothing to do with astrological signs, but the length of the days.


and where do you get this information? do enough sereach and you`ll find that there is more astrology involved than just the length of daylight. for example, the spring equinox may be the day when daylight and darkness are at equals BUT it is also the day when the Sun enters Aries. dislike about llewellyns calanders all youd like but do more reseach before complaining.

Spring equinox = 0 degrees Aries
Summer solstice = 0 degrees Cancer
Fall equinox = 0 degrees Libra
Winter solstice = 0 degrees Capricorn

the other sabbats can be celebrated a few days before or after the dates listed in alminacs when the Sun is 15 degrees into the sign.

RR

[Rick]

Yeah, you're confusing the astrological dates with the astronomical dates. The astronomical equinoxes occur when the sun crosses the plane of the equator, having nothing to do with the relative positions of any astrological constellations. And I realize that it's the 'popular' thing to bash Llewellyn, but they were blazing the trail in occult publishing decades before you were born. It's a business. They sell 'crap' books because people line up to buy 'crap'. It's a funny world, ain't it?

[HorseCrow]

I myself rely on the old fashioned farmers almanacs.

Those are the ones I use as well, and I have never detected any mis-listings in them, as opposed to a lot of "fluffy" almanacs.

[magickman12]

Ok, in Llewellyns defense, they do have some good books including Modern Magick by Kraig and Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia. But, here is what i base my info on.

It is said that we are now in the Age of Pisces. The Age of Aquarius is coming up. Now, what is it that determines the particular astrological age that we are in? It is the sign that the Sun rises in on the Spring Equinox. Right now, the Sun rises in the sign of Pisces when the day and the night are of equal lengths. In time, the Earth's axis will shift enough so that the Sun will rise with the sign of Aquarius on the Spring Equinox, thus bringing in the Age of Aquarius. So, if the Equinox occurred when the Sun entered Aries, like Llewellyn states, then there would be no Age but the Age of Aries.

MM12

[RedRaven]

It is said that we are now in the Age of Pisces. The Age of Aquarius is coming up. Now, what is it that determines the particular astrological age that we are in? It is the sign that the Sun rises in on the Spring Equinox. Right now, the Sun rises in the sign of Pisces when the day and the night are of equal lengths. In time, the Earth's axis will shift enough so that the Sun will rise with the sign of Aquarius on the Spring Equinox, thus bringing in the Age of Aquarius. So, if the Equinox occurred when the Sun entered Aries, like Llewellyn states, then there would be no Age but the Age of Aries.


there seems to be a lot of confusion here. The whole cycle of "age of pisces" and whatnot are said to be roughly 2,000 years long so there is a lot of debate of when the age of pisces ends and when the age of aquarius starts. these stages have nothing to do with the equinox. in the spring the equinox will always be the same day as when the sun enters Aries and in the fall it will always be the same day as when the sun enters Libra. its not that at these are the dates that the sun enters the signs because "llewellyn say so", watch your calanders when mabon comes around, the same day of the equinox is the same day the sun enters libra.

RR

[LadyTrinity]

Almanac's have cool info :dancy:

[magickman12]

there seems to be a lot of confusion here. The whole cycle of "age of pisces" and whatnot are said to be roughly 2,000 years long so there is a lot of debate of when the age of pisces ends and when the age of aquarius starts. these stages have nothing to do with the equinox. in the spring the equinox will always be the same day as when the sun enters Aries and in the fall it will always be the same day as when the sun enters Libra. its not that at these are the dates that the sun enters the signs because "llewellyn say so", watch your calanders when mabon comes around, the same day of the equinox is the same day the sun enters libra.

RR

First of all, let me apologize to all you Llewellyn employees out there for my rant. I am sure Llewellyn's books are just as inerrant as the Bible. heheh


Here is a link about the equinox, showing that it does indeed have to do with the length of the day.

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/Equinox.html (http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/Equinox.html)

Yes, this is science and not magick, but think about this. On this day, when the day and night are of equal length, then that means the Solar and Lunar powers of the Universe are equal. Neither one overpowers the other. The masculine and the feminine, the active and the passive, all are in balance upon this day. And it happens just twice a year. This is very magickal, indeed! Don't take my word for it, however, try it for yourself during the next equinox. Do a ritual then. We have always been very pleased with our results.

MM12

[magickman12]

there seems to be a lot of confusion here. The whole cycle of "age of pisces" and whatnot are said to be roughly 2,000 years long so there is a lot of debate of when the age of pisces ends and when the age of aquarius starts. these stages have nothing to do with the equinox. in the spring the equinox will always be the same day as when the sun enters Aries and in the fall it will always be the same day as when the sun enters Libra. its not that at these are the dates that the sun enters the signs because "llewellyn say so", watch your calanders when mabon comes around, the same day of the equinox is the same day the sun enters libra.

RR

First of all, let me apologize to all you Llewellyn employees out there for my rant. I am sure Llewellyn's books are just as inerrant as the Bible. heheh


Here is a link about the equinox, showing that it does indeed have to do with the length of the day.

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/Equinox.html (http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/Equinox.html)

Yes, this is science and not magick, but think about this. On this day, when the day and night are of equal length, then that means the Solar and Lunar powers of the Universe are equal. Neither one overpowers the other. The masculine and the feminine, the active and the passive, all are in balance upon this day. And it happens just twice a year. This is very magickal, indeed! Don't take my word for it, however, try it for yourself during the next equinox. Do a ritual then. We have always been very pleased with our results.

MM12

[RedRaven]

im not a llewellyn employee and i dont care for them :)

my original post was saying that yes the equinox is when there is equal daylight and darkness BUT the sun also enters Aries this day and in the fall the sun enters Libra. so you were not wrong in the context of daylight hours and whatnot, but your info about astrological events is off :)

RR

[magickman12]

Red Raven,
This last spring, the day and night were equal on March 17th, yet the Sun did not move into Aries until the 20th, three days later. These two events do not occur on the same day. Fourteen-hundred years ago, they may have, but because of the wobble of the Earth's axis, the time changes ever so slightly every year. This wobble causes the Sun to rise during the Equinox in a different sign every 2360 years.

On a side note, I didn't mean to imply that you are a Llewellyn employee, although I know some @ Mysticwicks were.

[RedRaven]

ok, so im going to edit this post a second time. at first i gave the details out of the alminacs that said and showed the equinox happening at the same day and time that the sun moved into Aries. I decided to look for further info by looking into past sunrise and sunset times and that source showed that the equinox happened, like you said, on the 17th. so this is when i edited and said that due to the sunrise/sunset times you were likely correct. But I just went and looked at a few more sources that go along with my alminacs with the equinox being on the 20th, when the sun enters Aries. due to a vast majority of my sources showing that the equinox is indeed the same day as the sun entering Aries Ill have to say that I am very sure that it is correct to say that both events are the same day.

RR

[magickman12]

RR,
of course I am willing to concede if I can see for myself that I am mistaken. Can you list these sources for me? My sources include:

the Old Farmers Almanac http://www.almanac.com/rise/index.php (http://www.almanac.com/rise/index.php)
The U.S. Naval Observatory http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html)
Sunrise/Sunset.com http://www.sunrisesunset.com/ (http://www.sunrisesunset.com/)
Horizon Network Security http://www.mindspring.com/~cavu/sunset.html (http://www.mindspring.com/~cavu/sunset.html)

MM12

[9-2-2]

If you think something's wrong, correct it to make yourself happy. :\

There are some titles I like from Llewelyn's garbage pile - but I'm repeating myself. :p

Titles such as the 3 Books of Occult Philosophy, some of Regardie's titles, Anodea Judith's Wheels of Light, Modern Magick... but beyond that, yeah, they serve a greater purpose in making people feel good as opposed to spreading enlightenment.

[magickman12]

If you think something's wrong, correct it to make yourself happy. :\

There are some titles I like from Llewelyn's garbage pile - but I'm repeating myself. :p

Titles such as the 3 Books of Occult Philosophy, some of Regardie's titles, Anodea Judith's Wheels of Light, Modern Magick... but beyond that, yeah, they serve a greater purpose in making people feel good as opposed to spreading enlightenment.

Hi 9-2-2,
This has nothing to do with what makes me happy. It has nothing to do with personal preference at all, but facts. If I did not always cross-check my information, if I simply took Llewellyn's word for it, then my rituals and magick could be messed up because of the faulty information.

Take this most recent example. On their astrological calendar for 2005, it says that the Moon will be void-of-course on August 2nd at 11:59 am EST. However, the Moon did not go VOC until 2:08 am EST on the morning of August 3rd when it quincuxed with Pluto. This information is gathered from two astrology programs Solar Fire and Astrolog.

Someone trusting Llewellyn would have been discouraged to perform a ritual yesterday because that company told them the Moon was VOC. A company as important and big as Llewellyn has the responsibility to make sure their information is correct. That is my main point. I don't care how much fluff they publish. I don't care how repetitive their material is. It just needs to be double-checked for accuracy.

MM12

[KEishin]

Now, what is it that determines the particular astrological age that we are in? It is the sign that the Sun rises in on the Spring Equinox.
Good luck finding a concrete answer. Us astrologers are still arguing over it. :D

And the gap between astrological and astronomical dates is anywhere from 3 to 7 days.

[magickman12]

Interesting, could you perhaps tell me some other theories concerning the equinox? As a professional astrologer myself I am always interested in hearing different views concerning this field.
MM12