Matthew Quellas on Quotidians

[Jim Eshelman]

Steve posted this over a decade ago, and it's mostly lost down in obscure old threads. I thought it should be more visible and easily accessible. Matthew spent years minutely watching and cataloging effects of quotidian systems - it was his obsession - and, before his death, wrote notes that were circulated around the early Internet. I recommend these for your consideration in cutting through the confusion around quotidians.

Not many siderealists are seriously working with quotidians, yet it's a rich field to see if our "assumptions" are based in actual experience. I generally look at transiting planets on quotidian angles as "opportunities" or "outlets" as well as a particular type of stimulus.

When you're working with quotidians, watch particularly for parans, planets crossing the angles together at the same Local Sidereal Time (LST) for a given day. Parans involving =only= natal planets, like natal Jupiter rising as natal Moon culminates, will not be as "event indicating" as parans involving natals or progressed planets with transiting planets. The "natals only" angular crossings and parans are what have been going on year after year at about the same time (date) every year. Natals with progressed, or natals with transiting, or progressed with transiting are "out of the ordinary" year after year influences. This is particularly true with the Natal Quotidian.

The Solar Quotidian is different. As natal planets are brought to the angles throughout the year, there is a different time base. It won't be the same date each year as with the Natal Quotidian (NQ). So depending on reinforcing transit or SR planet activity, natals to SQ angles can be more important.

As a general rule:
Unless there is a paran involving natal, progressed, SR planets, with quotidian-angular transiting planets, don't expect a significant incident to manifest. One planet angular by itself may or may not be meaningful. It depends on what else is going on. Is it being transited?

Natal planets are fairly clear, I think: that's what we're born with; they map our habitual response patterns. Secondary progressed planets are, theoretically, still a part of ourselves, but are more ephemeral, more transitory. They represent, perhaps, stages of unfolding character. The progressed Moon, particularly, is highly reflective of whatever it is aspecting; often progressed Moon to natal planet X produces results similar to a =transit by planet X=. Sort of a flip- flop of what one would expect.

[Jim Eshelman]

Wow, what a bit of astrological serendipity. I just noticed that I posted the above article with transiting Saturn 0°00' from Matthew's natal Ascendant. (Zero minutes!) That only happens one in 21,600 random chances.

He died July 11, 2014 in Atwater Village, Los Angeles (34N07'41" 118W16'00" for his home). At noon that day:

12°23' Aqu - t Neptune
27°06' Sag - L Asc
27°38' Pis - r Mars
28°00' Virgo - t Mars
28°14' Pis - t Eris
28°41' Gem - r Moon
28°38' Pis - SSR MC

There were impressive suggestions that transits to Solar Arc directions might be valid (not decisive since he had d MC sq r Saturn 0°01' regardless):

21°46' Lib - t Saturn
22°22' Ari - d Asc

3°43' Leo - r Mercury
4°11' Aqu - d MC
4°12' Tau - r Saturn
5°00' Leo - d Jupiter

Better than the directions, though, are the solunars. In particular, take his SSR from nearly a year earlier (already hinted at above):

27°38' Pis - r Mars (MC -0°48')
28°38' Pis - SSR MC
28°41' Gem - r Moon
0°10' Can - t Mars

8°23' Can - SSR Asc
10°39' Can - r Pluto (Asc -0°26')
11°22' Lib - t Saturn

This, of course, makes his natal Mars-Pluto form a 0°22' mundane square along with t Mars to r Moon-Mars plus Saturn (barely) angular square his Pluto.

[Jim Eshelman]

For some reason (the current Mercury-Jupiter-Saturn T-square bracketing my Jupiter-Uranus?) I felt prompted this morning to digest Matthew's summary above. It is an important piece of work as it stands, summarizing decades of his experience: I encourage everyone to read it as he wrote it to get his nuances. Still, to encourage more work in this direction, I will distill it to a few simple rules.

• GENERAL RULE: Watch especially for co-angularities (parans) that include at least one transiting planet. A single angular planet may or may not be meaningful: For a significant event, look for at least two concurrent crossings, at least one of which is a transit. [Otherwise, there may be a clear psychological effect, but less likely an event. - JAE]
• SNQ (natal quotidian) angles are responsive to natal, progressed, and transiting planets. SQ (SSR quotidian) angles are responsive to natal, SSR, and transiting planets. [Implied but not explicitly stated above. - JAE]
• "Out of the ordinary" influences come from co-angularities of natal + transiting, or progressed + transiting, or even natal + progressed or SSR planets.
• Especially in the SNQ, co-angularities involving only natal planets are not as likely to show an event as those of natal or progressed planets with a transiting planet. (SNQ natal-only crossings occur every year on the same date.)
• The SQ is different. Natal planets come to angles on different calendar days and have unique aspects to SSR planets each year. These are more distinctive than in the SNQ, especially when a transiting planet is also involved or a natal-SSR combination comes to the angles.

• Natal planets are what we're born with: They map our habitual response patterns.
• Secondary progressed planets are theoretically still a part of ourselves, but more ephemeral or transitory; perhaps they represent stages of unfolding character.
• Progressed Moon particularly is highly reflective of whatever it aspects. Often progressed Moon to a natal planet produces results similar to a transit by that planet (a flip-flop of what one would expect).
• Transiting planets on Q angles are opportunities or outlets, or a particular type of stimulus.

One important clarification: Matthew felt quotidian crossings (whether of natal, progressed, solar, or transiting planets) should be calculated mundanely. Through the '70s through '90s, we all thought this and, in pre-computer times, we went through enormous work calculating this. Matthew continued with this enormous work (but computer-assisted) until his death. However, when I did my initial deep dive into Sidereal mundane astrology on this site, I was surprised to see that quotidian contacts were more exact ecliptically. This was a real surprise! Though I have looked at them ecliptically for more than a decade now (and, if asked my opinion would unhesitantly say they work best ecliptically), I ultimately consider this an undecided issue that needs much further work. One day we hopefully will have features in Time Matters to allow anyone to generate quotidian crossing lists both ecliptically and mundanely and compare them, but there is no easy way for most people to do that today. (That's why we're building better tools.) For the summarized points above, I have paraphrased parans as co-angularities to avoid confusion and allow Matthew's underlying teaching to come out regardless of whether one ultimately thinks these crossings should be done ecliptically or mundanely.

[SteveS]

Matthew and I did a lot of work together with Quotidian Charts, and I have become a huge believer for watching Solar Quotidien’s closely for planning or not planning certain Days in your life relative to one’s normal day to day living based on “ what’s going-on” in one’s immediate living environment. I think I have posted several of my “out of the ordinary” solar quotidian days for my life, one of em proved to be the worst day in my entire life, and ONLY the quotidian chart proved this to my mind. I will always mark the Day on my calendar when my SQ Jupiter is partile conjunct my SQ MC for possible “out of the ordinary” good DAY as long as SSR Jupiter is free of any aspects from a malefic. Also, it is most important to note if you have any partile secondary progressed 0, 90, 180 SSR/Natal Moon aspects to either a SQ or NQ angle for planning or not planning certain days of activity. Matthew and Cyril Fagan in his book “ Primer of Sidereal Astrology” taught me the importance of certain “out of the ordinary” quotidian days, they are one of the most unique timing methods I have ever learned in Astrology simply because it is the only method I know of for panning or not planning a certain day of activity.

[Jim Eshelman]

An example of quotidians not working the way we were taught they should work, i.e., showing by angularity when strong, building forces come to their peak: This is the month of my progressed Moon conjunct natal Neptune (1°20' Libra). The aspect was exact Sunday though the aspect didn't rotate to SNQ MC until today (two days later). Under historic teaching, I'd have expected the aspect to peak today when it was both (nearly) exact and precisely angular.

However, Sunday was the day that, after a week of uneasiness and building concern, we decided our cat had to see a vet - took her to the ER - learned her seeming sore mouth is from a lesion or tumor that might be cancer - and spent the sort of fretful day of waiting for her initial results, assimilating the news about best and worse possibilities, etc.

We're still concerned - regular vet appointment Thursday with the hope of getting the biopsy - but we've both psychologically "normalized" to the situation. (It's not gone, but it's become part of ongoing state rather than new and confronting). Sunday was clearly the peak, today is as if the aspect peaked and is now waning... but today is when the progressed conjunction exactly crossed an SNQ angle.

[SteveS]

Excellent example Jim of the psychological power of a one DAY Quotidian Chart, believe me I understand the anxiety you are dealing with. Being a cat lover myself I know the psychological drama with the possibility of losing a pet cat. Like you once said: Cats are divine beings for their owners, I wish you the best for Kali (i think the correct name).

Here is an example of a powerful malefic Solar Quotidian which happened in my life:

This demonstrate the potential power of a Solar Quotidian Chart (Daily Chart) which drastically changed my entire life by me being involved in a gunfight with an individual who attempted to rob me of a large Theater deposit on the outside in the back of a 16 Plex Theater. Back in those days the Theater only transacted their business with cash, no credit card machines. This attempted robbery led me to retire forever from the Theater business which I had been in since I was 6 years old. I quit the Theater business and started delivery Pizzas near my rural home in Springville, instead of being paid well with benefits managing a 16 Plex Theater in a metropolitan area. My life was much more valuable to me than my Theater career. 3 Months after I retired the same Theater was robbed of 52 K by 3 robbers with shotguns. The robbery attempt on my life occurred on Friday the 13th, Feb 13, 1998, 5:13 PM CST. The first link below is my 1997 SSR (Sidereal Solar Return) with only the 3 planets showing
which acutely symbolized the robbery attempt on my Feb 13 progressed Solar Quotidian Day (second link below).

My 1997 SSR:

https://ibb.co/QrwmtPN

Now for my Feb 13 1998 Solar Quotidian Chart (progressed SSR link below). Note how my secondary progressed SSR Moon at 29,50 Aries had progressed from 24,10 Aries from my 1997 SSR Moon progressing to a partile 180 to my progressed SSR Mars, both progressed to partile my progressed SSR MC-IC axis. The odds for this progressed happening synchronizing on two angles as a paran are astronomical!

At this moment in TIME, this robbery attempt was a huge major “Life Development” for my entire life, and it was TIMED by a Quotidian Daily Chart. It was a once in a lifetime quotidian chart with the angular hits (very rare) which only occurred on that one DAY in my life with my progressed 1997 SSR.

My Feb 13 1998 Solar Quotidian:

https://ibb.co/Db3kKrV