Before exploring what I have added to the theory of planetary Octaves, I will define waht a planetary Octave is: a two--planet relationship, genrally representinga link between a "higher" Octave, which may be seen as the abstract principle and a "lower" octave, which may be seen as the means of iommediate application for that principle. Or we may see a Higher Octave as describing a means of dissolution and Return, where a Lower Octave can be seen as a means of collection and localization.

The idea of Octaves evolved after the discover and definition of the three Outer Planets: Uranus, which renovates entire idea structures and brings revolutionary new ideas, was seen as the principle from which the specific thoughts and messages of Mercury proceed. Neptune was sen as representing the connection of each with each and all, and of the marriage of the individual back to the whole, as the ultimate passion from which the specific joinders and passions of Venus proceed. Pluto, the great agent of transofrmation, the core being, the true will, the essence of power, was seen as teh real force behind the adventures and attacks of Mars.

My theory adds two new octaves, Sol/Jupiter and Luna/Saturn. I hit upon this notion wondering if Chinese Astrology, which is timed by the rotation of Jupiter, might be reconciled with Heliocentric Western astrology. If Sol and Jupiter were Octaves, these two systems might prove to be two sides of the same coin: but what about Luna and Saturn? In the arguments that follow, I show that these pairs fit every criterion for being considered Octaves that apply to the three traditional Octaves.

1). High Octave Planets are collective and abstract. Thus, Mercury is the messanger and thinker, but Uranus is the sum of all possible messages and the terms on which they do or do not remain meaningful. Similarly, Sol, the ego, is the sum and one might say the pattern of all experiences and efforts at self-understanding while Jupiter is the concrete means of reaching out to new experiences and aquiations-but definitley on the terms of the Ego. Luna is the gestator, Saturn the shaper, the reaper, and the severance of the unbilical cord: or the specific birth of one thing Luna has gestated.

2). Three of the High Octave Planets, as I have said, are detectable only by more deliberate and refined means of inquiry. Sol and Luna, whose joinder and separation are at the root of the Septenary, act as an intermediary by having abstract and collective themes while having visible physical correlates. I believe that this is part of ther function in the Middle Pillar in the Tree of Life, and why they are the focus of the Conjunctio Mysterium. Their themes, that of the Ego and Subconscious, are areas in which things like the thought of Mercury or the passions of Venus and Mars take place. They are also concepts that allow the paradigm manipulation of Uranus, the merger to the collective of Neptune, or the True Will of Pluto to become visible to the student of human nature.

It is their simultaneous visibility and High Octave operation that allows their marriage to work the marriage between the work of the Outter and the Visible planets.

3). Finally, in an Alchemical appreciation of the Septenary, one sees that the Visible Planets each rule two signs consisting of opposed elements that it is their inner power to wed. This might be seen as the progressing marriage of Cancer (and Water) and Leo (and Fire); which culminates at their polar compliments of Capricorn by the marriage of Air and Earth. It is no accident that these are the only two neighboring signs ruled by the same planet, Saturn the Shaper and Reaper. Yet even in the old scheme there are two distinct levels, for Luna and Sol each rule only one sign, as if they are clearer representatives of one element only.

In the old Septenary, Luna and Sol each have a sign they they rule without a co-ruler, and that does not change in this scheme. Here, the Outer Planets are assigned three signs each. In both the old view and this new way, this is because all five High Octave bodies have a different work to do than to provide means by which oppoiste elements may marry. The five High Octave planets describe a different tale than the Septenary. I feel that the rulership scheme I am about to describe both preserves and extends this too--often neglected alchemical inner scheme of the Zodiac.

However, the above makes more urgent the need for a theory of which High Octave Planets rule (or, I would insist, co-rule) which Signs of the Zodiac. Here is A Zodiac Rulership Scheme for the High Octave Planets.

Also, knowing about the Chinese Five Moving Principles, will make clearer the identification I see with this Five Octave system, and how I interpolated this other system into my description of the Octaves. I am convinced that they are the same forces.