H:

Hard (aspect): the opposition, square, semisquare, and sesquiquadrate; denotes intensification and change, or dynamic instability.

Harmonic: If an aspect is expressed as a fraction of 360°, the denominator of that fraction is the harmonic number of the aspect. Each of the following aspects is followed by its harmonic number: opposition-2, trine-3, square-4, sextile-6, septile-7, semisquare-8, sesquiquadrate-8, semisextile-12, quincunx-12.

Harmonic Syndrome: three or more planets mutually in an aspect pattern of the same harmonic, like the grand Trine, the T-square, the Grand Cross, the Yod, the Grand Hexagram, or five planets each in septile to each other.

Hasan bin Sabbáh: One of the boyhood friends of the great Persian poet and author of the Rubáiyát, Omar Khayyám. Hasan was the leader of a sect of fanatics who gained control of the castle fortress of Alamut in 1090. For more about Hasan, click here.

Heavy Planet: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

Heliocentric: the revolutionary, sun-centered model of the universe proposed by Copernicus in 1543.

Heliopause: The boundary marking the end of the Sun’s influence and separating our solar system from interstellar space, where the expanding solar wind from our Sun eventually runs into the solar winds of other stars (the interstellar medium). It is thought to be about 10 billion miles - three time Pluto’s distance - from the Sun.

Heliosphere: the magnetic bubble of hot plasma around the Sun caused by the solar wind’s expansion out into space. The heliosphere meets the interstellar medium at the heliopause.

Higher Octave: the relationships of the three outer planets to the three inner planets: Uranus (lightning-fast intuition) is the higher octave of Mercury (rational thought); Neptune (divine compassion) is the higher octave of Venus (personal love); and Pluto (evolution, transformation) is the higher octave of Mars (libido and ego drive).

Hipparchus of Rhodes: (190 - 120 BC) was probably the inventor of trigonometry, the first person to suggest that the earth rotated on its axis, the first to obtain a measurement of the earth’s diameter, calculated the distance to the Moon (between 59 and 67 earth radii, 60 earth radii is correct), calculated the length of the year to within 6.5 minutes, discovered the precession of the equinoxes (46" of arc compared to the modern 50.26", and much better than the 36" that Ptolemy obtained 300 years later), was the first known person to appreciate the vast distance to the stars, created a star catalogue of about 850 stars, and introduced the division of the circle into 360 degrees into Greece.

House: quarter the local sky with the horizon and meridian planes, then trisect those quarters into 12 sectors (see page 150); those sectors divide the ecliptic into what are called the 12 houses. Houses represent categories of planetary energy and arenas in life where those energies are expressed. The fifth house, for example, shows your needs in love and where you release fourth house energies and emotions. Self-expression, children of the body and the mind, love affairs, play, drama, amusement, gambling and hobbies all fall within the province of the fifth house.

House Ruler: see "Ruler (house)."

House (System): any of over 9 different systems of dividing the ecliptic into 12 interpretive sections, or houses, named after the monks and others who developed them, namely Placidus, Koch, Ptolemy, Porphyry, Campanus, Regiomontanus, Alcabitius, Morinus and Zariel. Due to an historic serendipity in its publishing, Placidus is the most popular. House systems either divide up the ecliptic, divide up the quadrants between the angles, or divide up the time This book uses the Campanus house system which trisects the quarters of the local sky on a spatial basis as shown on page 120 of "You and the Universe," as opposed to trisecting the time taken by the Ascendant from rising to culmination.