The Prenatal Epoch

Many people ask, why do astrologers study birth charts, why do they not study the moment of conception? This is not a new question.

The reason for birth charts is that birth is a significant, easily determined moment in time. The reason against conception is that it's darn hard, in most cases, to figure out exactly when that was. You need a technique.

The standard technique, which was not new to Bailey - nor Sepharial, his muse - was to go back nine months, interchange ascendant & moon, and call that the Epoch, or moment of conception. This is as far as Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson ever took it. The problem was the simple interchange did not work in all that many cases. The solution, which both Sepharial & Bailey gradually arrived at, was an additional three epochs. Which one applies to you depends on where the moon is by house, and the angular relationship it has to the sun.

As to the various goodies in this book, the prenatal epoch is a factor in rectification, twins & multiple births, and birth defects. It can also be used with directions, primary directions & more. Which amounts to an entire school of astrology, if anyone wants to push it.

Towards the end of Bailey's life (1876-1959), Hans Niggemann, of Uranian astrology fame, got him to admit there should be even more rules & epochs, but until someone else is so inspired, E. H. Bailey's work is the standard which all others must meet.