the-astrology-book

Hurtful Signs
tion, Hunter has taught at various colleges as well as in special programs for high
schools. She is presently pursuing doctoral studies in world cosmologies and myth.
A dramatic artist and workshop leader, Hunter worked for years with Dragon
Dance Theater and has performed at Bread and Puppet Circus and the United
Nations. A feature writer for the International Astrologer and other journals, she is the
author of Black Moon Lilith and a contributing author to Astrology for Women. Hunter
resides in St. John, Virgin Islands (U.S.) and leads stargazing nights at local resorts.
HURTFUL SIGNS
The term “hurtful signs” is an older designation for the signs Aries, Taurus, Cancer,
Scorpio, and Capricorn. They are so called because the animal symbols of these zodiacal
signs appear capable of “hurting” human beings.
HYGEIA
Hygeia, asteroid 10 (the 10th asteroid to be discovered, on April 12, 1849, by the Italian
astronomer Annibale de Gasparis), is approximately 430 kilometers in diameter
and has an orbital period of 5.5 years. Hygeia was the daughter of Aesculapius and the
goddess of health and hygiene. According to Martha Lang-Wescott, the position of
Hygeia and the aspects to it provide some indications of the native’s health. This
asteroid’s key words are “health” and “hygiene.”
Sources:
Lang-Wescott, Martha. Asteroids-Mechanics: Ephemerides II. Conway, MA: Treehouse Mountain,
1990.
———. Mechanics of the Future: Asteroids. Rev. ed. Conway, MA: Treehouse Mountain, 1991.
Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.
HYLEG
The Hyleg (Arabic), Apheta (Greek), Prorogator (Latin), or Giver of Life, was a planet
or point that was calculated as part of the process to evaluate both the life
expectancy and periods when the native was at mortal risk. When this point was
directed (using what are now called primary directions) to an Anareta (or killing
point; there may be more than one), or vice versa, death occurs. In their book Greek
Horoscopes, Otto Neugerbauer and Henry Bartlett Van Hoesen noted that early versions,
such as that of the Roman astrologer Babillus, allowed any planet to be hyleg;
later versions restricted the hyleg, except under relatively rare circumstances, to being
one of the hylegical points: Sun, Moon, ascendant, or Part of Fortune.
House placement is critical to the definition of the hyleg. The earliest Greek
houses were what is now referred to as whole sign: if the ascendant was in Cancer,
then the first house was Cancer, regardless of the degree of the ascendant. This is similar
to traditional Vedic usage as well. In this system, the words “sign” and “house”
become literally interchangeable, as in, “The Sun is in his own house” being equiva-
[344] THE ASTROLOGY BOOK