That Aries/Libra line in our natural chart wheel represents the celestial equator. We measure declination in degrees above and below this line that cuts through the earth's equator and extends out into space. So a planet at 23 south and another at 22 south, though both at 0 Capricorn, are not occupying the same piece of space although in the same degree of the zodiac. They are not lined up from this other dimension. They're two different pieces of real estate in the same development, but on different streets. We always look at straight lines for aspects, we always look at the avenues along which energy travels.

If you were standing outside again and Jupiter were at 23 south declination it would be directly overhead if you lived at 23 south latitude, but if your location had a latitude of 39 north as mine does, you will never have Jupiter overhead because for one thing Jupiter will never reach 39 degrees of declination. Declination must be related to the place on earth where you view it.

This is why we erect charts using latitude and longitude, so we see the planets from our own perspective.

Think about the sun. Those of us in temperate zones, even in midsummer, never have the sun directly overhead, we see it at an angle. If we lived along the tropic of Cancer, at 23 degrees 27 minutes, the Sun would be directly overhead on June 21/22 when it reaches its solstice point and was at 23 degrees 27 minutes of declination north.

We've been taught to estimate chart accuracy loosely by the position of the sun in the chart. We know that a sunrise birth will have the Sun near the ascendant and a sunset birth will have the sun located near that 7th house cusp, dependent upon the time of year and time of sunset. A noon birth will have the sun in that 10th / 9th house area.

But the Sun is never directly overhead unless our latitude and its declination match: the two must coincide. The Sun marks the ecliptic and defines it. Our view of the Sun is constant throughout the year and is defined by the degree of the earth's tilt. The sun's apparent path is one that runs from 0 to 23 degrees 27 of declination.

Now another exercise to make clear the importance of declination. Take your pen and add Sun and Mars at 0 Libra to a blank natural chart form. Let's look at Sun and Mars setting in this chart. Sun is at 0 Libra and 0 N declination, Mars is at 0 Libra , but 2 degrees 24 minutes north. The Sun will have set but Mars will not set until 6 degrees Libra is on the descendant line. Take a look at the illustration marked setting planets.
Because of Mar's angle to the ecliptic it will take 6 more degrees to reach setting position...we can even equate this in time by multiplying 4 minutes per degree...24 minutes later in time.
If this were a chart you were analyzing for a client and there was another planet, let's say Saturn, also at 0 Libra, but at 0' N 5", which would you judge stronger, the Mars/Sun conjunction or the Saturn/Sun conjunction? I would judge Saturn to be stronger because it is closer by declination.

A wonderful article in the Mountain Astrologer from December 1996 discussed in-mundo calculations, and they are highly accurate, but time consuming, difficult, and math intensive. Ken Bowser, the author said that unless one uses in-mundo calculations one will not see the connection between Mercury and Mars in Einstein’s chart. However, by using the declination conversions to longitude the connection is clear. The graph I designed above is similar to one Bowser used to explain in-mundo calculations, and it is amazing to find that by converting declinations to longitude one obtains similar information. The astronomical premise is the same.

Copyrights reserved ©1997 Bette Denlinger